#PRChurch
Well, that was fun
I am well versed in mercury retrograde / grenades and shades. I have made peace with being v.e.r.y e.x.p.l.i.c.i.t in my communication during these times. Slooooowing it down … reducing comms to:
· Bullet points
· That
· Could
· Become
· A
· Set
· Of
· Paint
· By
· Numbers
· Instructions
This serves not only the recipients but myself. Because what am I actually saying / conveying / requesting? But twilight zones have descended and I find myself going quite mad. Which is why I love something in writing (love me a screenshot) so I can go but no, wait …
And I am not throwing shade at anyone because me, myself and I have been wandering in the desert of unclear communication where I am not sure if I should be flipcharting myself, recording myself or calling in an audience to check if I am indeed talking in a mysterious 12th language. (Side bar: LOOK at these Mandombe scripts … how beautiful?)
Do I have a solve for this no? But sometimes just the awareness that nothing is working for anyone can make you breathe easier, venture outside to stand in the grass and perhaps even have a wry smile that the problem could be you.
BUT. And here is the big but. I do think that everyone is seriously underestimating the effect of covid and long covid on people’s cognitive functioning. The dictionary defines cognitive functioning as “the way in which the brain makes connections while remembering what is learned. The ability to reason logically is an excellent example of cognition, problem solving and making judgments about information.”
For some lucky reason I have escaped Covid (reaches out and touches every single piece of wood in close vicinity) but I am working with a number of people who have had it, some more than once, and some who are still suffering debilitating symptoms. It is a special kind of hell they are in, and one I would not wish on anybody.
Read this twitter thread here: Long Covid
And read about long covid here: Long Covid: the invisible public health crisis fuelling labour shortages
These people are not who they are pre-Covid. And yes there is the grief and yes there is the collective PSTD, but more worrying is their own individual cognitive abilities that are taking time to reset and re-connect. It means I get 8pm reminders for something I have sent. It means I have to re-explain campaigns / concepts / thinking every time we meet. It means that I can hear the fatigue, and the worry. And it inevitably means everything slows down. Even more.
Again, I have no solve for this. I dare not even discuss this with certain clients / partners / suppliers … but it is increasingly recognisable to me. And all I can react with is more empathy, more patience and letting go of how projects should / could play out. And I make damn sure my mask and sanitiser are still close by, because there by the grace of G-d go I.
So yes, the astrologists will say that the retrograde is done and energies will shift. And yes the trend forecasters will say this is where the new is. And the economists (the positive ones) will say focus on here. But the people are not okay. Those who can, are overloaded. Those who can’t are frozen in fear for a mind not yet healed.
What do I do? I have a simple new mantra that I repeat in every silly, soft situation like a cyborg hipster, “look what love built,” as I admire a falling leaf while waiting for emails, or a slowly withering flower as I try decipher a brief, or smell that freshly brewed coffee whilst trying to salvage something gone wrong.
Look what love built.
Five emails instead of one from someone clearly overwhelmed and panicked and not wanting to mess up.
Look what love built.
As we try and fix something after the fact because it slipped off your radar.
Look what love built.
As you ask me key questions at 5pm for a next day deadline and I gently remind you to look at your notebook from the meeting two weeks earlier and you go: oh, yes, I remember now.
Look what love built.
As I explain that now is not the time to load your quote with what it SHOULD cost and rather get your foot in the door, at a lower fee. Because it will still be money you never had.
Look what love built. Try it. It lowers your blood pressure and makes you sound completely insane. But with a small smile on your face. xx