the Covid-19 legacy

I had intended to write this blog about leadership – Jacinda Arden is showing the world what good leadership is all about - but then the indolence of furlough set in.  I’ve been having an ongoing daily competition between R&R and motivation.
 
I’ve now got a system, I think.  A quick check when I first get up to make sure there’s no earth shattering positive news about (I’m always on the look out for positive news), then breakfast, a couple of hours working (or thinking about working – remember the competition issue above?) my daily allotted exercise will be slotted in somewhere and then, of course, the R&R.
 
Sometimes the R&R gives way to real creativity.  I undertake some strategic thinking.  I’ve slotted in at least two Thinking Partnerships each week to help me use this down time to best effect.  It’s amazing where my thinking is taking me at the moment and I get quite excited about the insights I’ve been gaining.
 
Yearning for the sound of a different voice
I’m going back to old fashioned contact methods – the phone rather than email as I’m beginning to yearn for the sound of a human voice other than my own and my other half.
 
And then I had the request to write my story.  No, not the autobiography that sits inside everyone – so they say.  This is a project being run by a charity, the WayfinderWoman Trust to help women find purpose and positivity during lockdown.
 
Women’s voices
Called Women in Lockdown: stories by and about women during Covid-19 they’ve got exciting ideas as to how social history can be recorded so that the stories of ‘ordinary’ women, those like me who are entrepreneurs, like my neighbours one of whom is a hairdresser, the other a care worker/ manager will not be forgotten in the future.
 
Social history in the making
With women bearing the brunt of lockdown in terms of job losses, reduced wages, increased caring responsibilities, hugely increased emotional management and, worst of all, being stuck in lockdown with abusive relatives, this is a way to make them feel as though they have value again. 
 
What I like about it too is that they’re asking men to reflect on the women in their lives and to write about them.  Ever the optimist I’m hoping that men will gain a better perspective and appreciation of the role that women play in society and the workplace.
 
I’m still pondering what I’m going to write – or even whether to take up the phone video option but do it I will.  Who else will join me I wonder?