Coronavirus: In Sickness and In Health

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.

Leading Your Job Search Through a Career Change Webinar

Stomach pains this week notwithstanding, I joined as a co-presenter of Leading Your Job Search Through a Career Change, with Linda Harvey, for the University of Chicago’s Alumni Association on Tuesday afternoon and am happy to share the video here.

Linda takes you through key steps to conceptualizing and planning a career change – and how that might be affected by this brave new environment – and I follow up with advice about how to brand around the change and facilitate your transition.

COVID-19 Leadership and Career Resources

I have started putting together curated resources on crisis and career leadership through the coronavirus pandemic, including a section with specific links for attorneys. Click here or go to AnneMarieSegal.com/covid-19 to access them. I hope they are helpful, and I will be adding to the list from time to time as I come across new resources.

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. 

Segal 24/7: LinkedIn Profiles

If you are polishing up your LinkedIn profile – whether it’s for a new job, promotion, recruitment of new candidates or to showcase your talents and increase job security in a current role – feel free to sign on to my free class on Personal Branding: The LinkedIn Checklist.

2020 Article Series

I have decided to postpone future articles in my Board of Directors and Yoga Mantra series until the burdens of coronavirus are lifted, so I can free up time for other projects to help those who are struggling to find their footing during the pandemic. 

I do plan to continue my Modern Career Warrior interviews during this time, but I’ll be shifting my focus to those in the medical field and other “essential workers” and may change the format and length in the coming months to account for their limited time available.

April’s MCW is Francisco Lasta, an occupational therapist whose career spans the domains of medicine, design and technology, with a healthy dose of emotional intelligence. Among other projects, Francisco consults on artificial intelligence, virtual reality and telehealth, and his ideas and innovations are directly relevant for the global health crisis we are currently facing.

I am very excited to (finally finish editing – delay all mine! – and) post my interview with Francisco soon, hopefully by the end of next week, in honor of his dedication to the field and in time for OT Month.

That’s my Monthly Redux on this beautiful (and scary) day of April 3, 2020. I’m off to host a Zoom happy hour shortly with a few friends, so it’s time to sign off the computer for the afternoon. Stay safe and support each other where and whenever you can!

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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.