Girl, You got this!

If decades of working in change management - both with large organizations  as a consultant and individuals as a coach - has taught me anything, it’s this… most of us don’t do well with uncertainty. It’s why people that are worried about losing their job will act in ways that lead to them actually losing their job or why people horde toilet paper when a previously unknown virus alters life as we know it.

We need to control something - anything.

So it’s been surprising to me that the uprising of Coronavirus hasn’t been a bigger deal in my life. I mean - it’s a big deal, but it’s not.

Pivot.

We can’t host classes at the SheHive - a business entirely predicated on the ability to gather? Well, we’ve wanted to do more online. I guess this how we learn.

My corporate client sends everyone home to work - for the “foreseeable future” - just weeks after I dismantled my home office? Well, the SheHive is only three minutes away and it’s empty. I’ll work from the SheHive for the “foreseeable future.”

My car lease is due to be turned in just as my dealership shuts down for the two weeks? Well, there’s a Ford dealership really close to my house that graciously bent the rules and took a car that’s not really theirs. Not having to drive to St. Clair Shores and back, as originally planned, just saved me a lot of time.

It always works out. Not always exactly how I want it to… sometimes worse, but most times better than I had imagined.

And I have a good imagination.

Why doesn’t this suck more?

“I feel almost guilty about my laissez faire attitude,” I admitted last week to the women of our book club (who were, for the first time, meeting online). “I don’t know if I’m naive in my ‘look for the silver linings’ attitude or really healthy.” I feel like I’m riding a fine line between stuffing down fear and acknowledging that there is much I just can’t control.

Ironically, we were discussing the book Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun. In the book, the author interviewed over 200 GenX women about being part of a generation raised “to have it all” - only to face unprecedented divorce, debt, unstable housing and unfulfilling career opportunities.

“Come on! I was built for this!” declared another member of the book club.

We were built for this.

And she’s right… we were built for this. Women were built for this. We’ve had a lifetime of adjusting our expectations when the story we were given takes a unexpected turn. None of us love crisis, but I’ll be damned if you can convince me that women, overall, haven’t mastered adaptability.

This is your time - lean in to your femininity. Put your relationships first - especially the relationship with yourself! Be flexible. Be empathetic. Be humane. Be curious. And don’t be afraid to step up and show others the way. No one knows more than you, lovely, how to adapt.

You’ve had a lifetime of practice and you were built for this.

How are you adapting to this new normal? Leave a comment below with your bright spots and silver linings. I’d love to hear from you!

With much love and gratitude,

P.S. Need some connection in this time of social distancing? We still have a full roster of classes happening online right now - including this afternoon’s Weekly Check-In. We’d love to see you online!