Many of us work from home. Some of us have been doing it for years. I’ve been doing it for a decade. All my colleagues work from home, we are spread around the world. When the pandemic struck, many more were forced to work from home, many stayed home for good.
Working from home is nothing new. Many of us have studios in our attic, cellar, bedroom or a building in the garden. It’s smart. Working from home cuts down on travel time, the cost of another building and other related costs.
The Experts management all work this way and have done for years. We meet up several times a year to brainstorm ideas and come up with future plans. The pandemic meant that travel was restricted for over a year, so it’s been a long time since we’ve been together. This week we finally got to sit in the same room to consider our next steps.
The Curved Ball
However, something happened that changed everything.
We used the first session to talk about how we were feeling. I went first. There’s a simple reason for this, leaders should never ask their team to go somewhere they wouldn’t go first. If I want the team to be honest and open up, I need to do the same. So I did.
“I’m tired, this is relentlessly hard, and I want to get off this hamster wheel. We need to find a new way of doing this before we all kill ourselves.” Well, if nothing else, then my opening salvo got the skunk on the table. Are these the kind of words a leader should be uttering to his troops? Surely I’m supposed to stand on top of the proverbial mountain and declare a grand vision. If that is the job, I’m not the man to do it; it might look good at business conferences, but it’s not really my thing. It’s certainly not appropriate when I wouldn’t believe a word of it.
As I spoke about my frustration and tiredness, I could see that everyone else around the table wasn’t furrowing their brow with the thought of “what the hell is he talking about?” Quite the opposite, every person was smiling and nodding, and we were all feeling the same.
However, like some conspiracy of silence, it seemed that we’d all spent months feeling this way but not admitting it to each other. Perhaps the reason is we didn't even know ourselves. If you’ve ever done any distance running you often get your head down and plough on. It’s not until the end of the race that you feel the pain, the muscle burn and sometimes the real tiredness doesn’t set in until the next day.
We’ve all been living through a life changing global event, we didn’t expect it and had no training for how to cope. Many of us just got on with life and the ‘new normal’ not expecting it to change us. Often those who have recovered from a serious illness will suddenly have some kind of realisation of dodging death some time later, this can trigger things like depression or a form of PTSD. A quick search of the web shows that many respected health professionals are taking post COVID PTSD seriously. The article speaks about the effect on the population as a whole;
“Results of an Italian cross-sectional, web-based survey showed a relatively high percentage (29.5%) of PTSS related to the pandemic, suggesting that the pandemic itself could be considered a traumatic event. Similarly, an online survey of almost 3500 people in Spain found symptoms of PTSD (15.8%), depression (18.7%), and anxiety (21.6%), with loneliness the strongest predictor of symptoms.”
What’s Changed?
Now here’s the odd thing. We’ve all worked on our own for years. As I’ve already said, I’ve been doing it for a decade. So what’s changed?
What’s changed is the pandemic removed all the things that acted as release valves and connection points for those of us working alone. We’ve had no chances to meet up, to be inspired, to laugh or cry. We’ve not been able to go for meals, go to the movies and, for many, take a vacation!
These things are all important in normal times, even for those connected with others by going to work every day. However, for those of us working as freelancers from home, they are more important than ever. Without them, we are in danger of becoming isolated and having nowhere to take our stuff.
Some of that stuff may simply be telling a friend how a project is driving you mad and how you want to scream at the client. Some of it may be serious and, if left unchecked, may affect your mental health. It may already be manifesting itself in lack of inspiration, lethargy, anxiety, or worse, panic attacks or depression.
Suffice to say, our Experts time together became less about inspiration and more about restoration. How do we stay connected and take care of one another?
A Vital Connection
The average recording studio has thousand of connections made up of audio and data cables. Still, some of us are in danger of neglecting the most important connection, people.
If this article has you nodding too, then find a way to start connecting with people again. In the last few years technology has given us some fantastic ways to continue doing our jobs. Things like Zoom and the many collaboration tools now available are helping us to work with people who are not in the room.
I recall a story I was told some years ago that illustrates this point so clearly.
A father is woken in the middle of the night to a violent thunder and lightning storm. He runs to the room of his 5-year-old daughter to check she is OK. On entering, he finds her standing at the window, looking out at the storm. He walks over to her and says, “don’t be afraid; God will take care of you.” Without missing a beat, his daughter replies, “But Daddy, I want someone with skin on.”
In our digital world, it’s easy to be seduced into thinking we are more connected than ever with all the technology in our lives. The truth is that at some point we realise it’s not the same thing, we all need someone with skin on.
So after reading this article take a moment to book a meeting, a coffee or some other kind of social activity with someone who has skin on. You’ll be surprised at the power of that connection.
Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels