// Every month, I send a text born out of my experience and my reflections - like this one. Sometimes with learning and sometimes with unresolved dilemma, I share how it feels to be a corporate activist. If you'd like to receive the next ones directly in your mailbox, here is where to subscribe - it comes with a no-spam promise 😇 //
Knock, knock,
someone in there?
Hi, how are you?
Thank you for letting me in.
Letting me inside your mailbox,
inside your thoughts,
inside your life.
While the whole world is busy keeping the virus out.
When so many things have to be out of our lives.
Going to work, going to school, going to the sport club,
Seeing family, friends, just people on the streets.
Being spontaneous - being carefree - being happy.
While this is first and foremost a massive human tragedy,
this is also an unprecedented, universal collective opportunity.
Because each of us, without exception, is confronted with the crisis.
While we are all confronted with the more or less the same disruption,
We react in vastly different ways... and that's our uniqueness emerging.
Whether you realize it fully or not, the way you react to the crisis
is a fabulous, life-size opportunity to see yourself as you truly are.
Your emotions: your fears, your hopes, your ups-and-downs,
Your actions: your coping strategies, your distractions, your helping others,
Your ability to adapt or your resistance to change,
Your realization of the things you actually really miss,
Your appreciation for the important things you still have,
All of this is the truth of who you are.
Under pressure, what's bred in the bone comes out in the flesh.
The truth comes to the surface.
The real you is the one taking the reins.
Oh, and by the way, as you get to see the real you,
you also get to see the real in other people.
I told you! It's a fabulous opportunity for authenticity.
And being true to the real you is a hell of an anchor to hold onto
in a world whose transition was accelerating anyway
and which is totally disrupted right now.
So if you can, if you are willing to,
step into the observer role
and take notes of what is going on.
With you, within you.
Hold onto the silver lining that
this time can be put to good use
for you to discover, in depth and in detail,
the greatest strength you can get,
the strength of self-awareness.
In my case, I confirmed a few things I already knew and realized a few new things too.
I confirmed that I have a huge problem with corporate BS, which now is close to becoming an allergy in the light of things that really matter like health, safety, solidarity, education.
I confirmed that I have a weakness around recognizing my emotions (read back last month newsletter for more 😉) and I urgently got myself an app to learn to be better at reading what is going on with me.
I confirmed that I am on a mission to make leadership styles evolve in Big Corp, and I use this new habit of check-ins and social coffee to share my vulnerability around how I feel - hoping others will feel they can share too.
My biggest new realizations were about what I really enjoy to do - if I am honest, most of what I do everyday does not provide me much joy as such; their outcomes sometimes do but it feels quite far away and I find it difficult to motivate me.
However what really makes me happy is to bring people together and stir the collective intelligence. Create a safe space and get people to share their tips, their experience, their insights. Provide the basis for a collective reflection. I really get a kick out of that as I prepare it (and not afterwards as I measure the results). That's when I am in the flow.
So in that spirit and to help you find one possible silver lining of this horrible situation, I would like to support you in your journey to finding your true self.
>>That's why I am starting a series of 5 exercises to reflect on who you are (and how to feel good in your job accordingly) in the coming weeks. <<
The first one: "What makes me alive?" can be found here. It's our own, private platform so that you can be sure that everything you share and discuss with the other members stays nicely safe, and well - private. So you need to log in once - well maybe twice if you install the app on your phone - but then it will be just us, in our tight-knit, like-minded community.
Hope to see you there soon - we've got each other's back in there, and right now that's what we need the most.
I didn't know one year ago when I started, that this final motto would become so relevant:
Be well, Be strong, Be you.
Love, always-
Marie
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