10 Insights from 100 days of isolation

On July 1, we in India completed 100 days of lockdown, unlocking and isolation. Professionally this has been the longest I have been in one place in the last 9 years. I know I am not unique in that. As many other professionals in education would tell you, we are watching with trepidation and excitement in good measure as to how our sector is going to shapeshift in the coming years. It has also been a time where I wake up every day wondering how I want to fit into that changed world, what I need to do to remain relevant and have a voice. But has it all got to be about our professional lives alone? The pandemic has forced our personal and professional lives to collide and coalesce, blurring the boundaries and shattering the walls of carefully built compartments. I have captured below 10 insights I have had as I have navigated the pandemic. This pandemic is a collective journey for humanity, but it is also an individual journey.

Insight 1: Kindness

Yesterday, I came across Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem on Kindness. For those of you interested in reading the poem, you can check it out here, https://bit.ly/3ijyNWm. A line in the poem resonated with me, ‘how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness’. At the start of this 100 day period, I realised I could not get through this without the kindness of others and being kind to others. I have had kindness shown to me by friends, family and colleagues. And on those days when I wake up wondering if there is light at the end of this tunnel, like a beacon a kind word or gesture does appear from somewhere and it keeps me going.

Insight 2: Invest in yourself

I know there is a wave of needing to be busy all the time and extracting every second worth of output of every waking hour these days. This is also the time to reflect on what matters to you professionally and personally. This is the time to invest in ourselves and do it without feeling guilty or conflicted.

Insight 3: Lifelong Learning

This is here to stay as we have been forced to change our ways of working and living in a short span of time. Now is the time to explore areas of interest that you have always had as universities and edtech platforms have unlocked their chests of knowledge and there is a wealth of courses and skills out there that you can explore. This might help you change or build your career path. My weekends these days are spent in studying and I am enjoying being a student again exploring western classical music and design thinking whilst greedily browsing other courses I might want to do once I finish what I have taken on presently.

Insight 4: Pause

For many of us who are in the workforce, professional existence takes over life in a lot of ways, compromises are made on many occasions in favour of our professional lives. There is never an opportunity to evaluate that unless something lifechanging happens. Usually, that happens at an individual level. For the first time, I feel there is a universal pause. Allowing this to wash over you, accepting it can help in coping.

Insight 5: Connect-Connect-Connect

I have made an effort to connect with friends and colleagues at a personal level and it has helped me immensely. A friend and colleague has dropped a meeting into my diary every two weeks to just talk everything under the sun except work. And it is a time in my diary I fiercely protect and look forward to. You know who you are.

We are intensely engaged over zoom these days at work, that screen time is a challenge. So just hearing voices and reading a physical book are such joys these days. Keeping an eye on family members, friends and colleagues who are on their own/having serious personal issues is something I have taken seriously. And I have to admit, I have gained more than them as every interaction has charged my batteries.

Insight 6: Being vulnerable is OK

Professionally being vulnerable can be harakiri, especially in a success culture and I have had my moments. As we live through this, accepting the vulnerabilities and being open about what worries us can be liberating. We all need a safety valve. I hope we all can find that in our friends, families and colleagues. It is our duty to openly acknowledge the elephant or rather the elephants in the room, whether it is our fear of the disease, or how blue we feel on some days or our anxiety about the future. We owe it to each other. Just sharing how you feel might help someone who cannot articulate draw comfort that they are not alone. Ask for help. It is ok.

Insight 7: Collaborate for Common Good

In these 100 days, I have reached out to new people and collaborated with them for mutual benefit. And I hope the spirit of helping and supporting each other survives this extraordinary time as I am hoping to keep this up. In this time, I am actively reaching out to people to breathe life into some of my peripheral interests that have been dormant since I entered the workforce. They have been generous with their ideas and insights. I am basking in their generosity.

Insight 8: Do something for others

Turning your attention to others and supporting them can save you. I have a friend who indulges all us on a weekly basis by going to extraordinary lengths to cook for four of us who land up every weekend as this is the only outing we have permitted ourselves. Sometimes I gather it is almost a full day’s work for her. Out of curiosity I asked as to why she does this in this summer heat in her kitchen. The answer was disarming, ‘I see how much you all enjoy and that is my joy’.

Insight 9: Being Grateful/Give what you can

In India, social inequities and injustices stare at you on a daily basis. We become immune early on and learn to ignore the less fortunate on our roads and look ahead. Witnessing the late night march of some migrants really brought home to me what all I have to be grateful for. Most households in India have house help. At least, two other households are supported by many of us. In these times where we can continue to give, we should give so that they may survive.

Insight 10: Purpose

At the end of these 100 days, right now I am spending time thinking about my purpose. What is it that gives me joy, what is the purpose I want to fulfil personally and professionally? I think it will not be an easy one to arrive at an answer. However, I hope it will be an insight that will drive me forward.