As I’m reading the headlines at least four or five times a day – trying not to look more than that and get sucked into the never-ending void of the COVID-19 news cycle – I have also been fighting off a stomach bug since Monday. Normally I can take that into stride, but I must admit the fact my symptoms were a potential warning sign for coronavirus gave me some pause, even as I have been “sheltering at home” for over almost twenty days.

Since I live in Connecticut, which is one of the hotspots in the U.S., the choices are rather limited: If you feel well, stay home. If you don’t feel well, stay home. Don’t go to the hospital or otherwise put a strain on medical resources unless you absolutely need it, for your own safety and because you just might save a life. So that’s what I did. 

Thankfully, I’m on the mend!

Like many of my friends and colleagues and indeed many of us across the globe, among the changes in my life lately are a house full of people all day every day, including two teenagers working on remote learning through their schools. They have been pretty good about managing their emotions around the need to be stuck at home and have even found some time to join in FaceTime calls with their grandparents. (Yep, that’s our dog Carter in the bottom right hand corner!)

Drawing has emerged as a new interest in my daughter’s life, including graphic representations like the one above she made of a “happy coronavirus.” (Irony notwithstanding, the virus is alive, well and probably pretty pleased with itself, if we can personify it for just a moment.) She has also turned our living room into an art studio as of late, and we are waiting for a pack of easels from Amazon to arrive so we can host a homebound family painting night this weekend, which is cheaper than a night at a paint bar and hopefully just as fun if not more. In the meantime, she has tuned into a few Bob Ross videos to expand her range in acrylics.

It’s an interesting segue into a topic I discussed on a webinar this week (see directly below) about finding your interests and strengths as part of building out your career, especially in the context of a job search or career change. Many of us are finding that we are rising to the occasion and discovering strengths we did not know we had, as our normal routine is interrupted and we are searching for creative solutions to novel problems that face us in the course of our “new normal.”

For my part, I am finding that certain tasks I found challenging before, particularly because they did not feel rewarding, hold my interest much longer than they had a few short weeks ago. Housework is certainly among these! Holding down the fort takes on a whole new meaning in the midst of a pandemic. Keeping order means our mental health stays intact, which in turn helps all of us able to do our part in flattening the curve.

5th Anniversary

Wednesday, April 1, was the fifth anniversary of Segal Coaching! It’s hard to believe that five years have passed. As excited as I am for this milestone, it pales in comparison to all of the chaos of recent weeks. Like many other special occasions that are being postponed, I guess I’ll be celebrating this anniversary sometime in the summer or fall. 

Anne Marie Segal is an executive coach and writer based in Connecticut. To learn more about her, you can visit her About page or LinkedIn profile.

Image credits: Top two photos © 2020 Anne Marie Segal. All rights reserved. Artwork in top photo © 2020 Tamara Segal. All rights reserved. Video courtesy the Alumni Association of the University of Chicago. Birthday image sourced from Adobe Images. Bottom photo © 2020 Francisco Lasta. All rights reserved.