2020-And then I woke up! by Bianca Moreiras

As the 2020-year ends are you experiencing Zoom fatigue? You know, you cannot take one more zoom meeting. Your bottom is experiencing spread. Your eyes are blurry, and your mind is tired of being told “YOU’RE ON MUTE!” Well you are not alone.

In March 2020 all we could focus on was how is the Covid-19 “The Pandemic” going to affect us, mentally, physically, and financially. We watched the news while washing our hands, sanitizing boxes, bags and anyone who walked in our home. We stripped down to our underwear in the doorway of our home (a sight most did not want to see). Our employers and business owners closed their doors abruptly and without notice and we all were either out of a job or working online.

As the numbers rose and our businesses took on a whole new look and feel we all discovered Zoom. My first meeting was St. Patrick’s Day and while engaged with over 20+ people we where ZOOMBOMBED just like the rest of the world... Surely this is not the new normal. Oh, My Goodness what is the world coming to.

By April there was no toilet paper, napkins, or paper towels. We were all in awe of this phenomenon and had no idea if the pandemic caused diarrhea or some stomach intestinal issue. LOL! This was followed by the scarcity of hand sanitizer, Lysol spray, wipes, and PPE gear (masks, gloves, etc.). Was the sky falling? Were we experiencing Armageddon? The new normal when you left the house wasn’t “do you have your keys?” Instead it was replaced by “do you have your mask, rubber gloves and hand sanitizer.”

Fast forward to May and Memorial Day weekend the government thought it was safe to go out. This was despite 362,705 covid-19 related deaths worldwide through May 30, 2020. If you weren’t feeling the pressure that this pandemic might not be over as quickly as we first thought, you were feeling it by now.

As weddings, graduations, celebrations, and the like were all cancelled, postponed, or delayed, we are left  wondering “when will this end!”  We all have lost someone we knew, loved, and cared about. Friends cousins, parents, and children. My condolences to all reading this account of 2020. However, with Thanksgiving in the foreground in November, we found ways to be thankful for where we are today, who we have spent countless hours, days and months with and those we have shared the computer screen with over these past 9 months.

Where am I going with this…? I thought the recap was necessary as an intro to the real subject, Zooming, Zoominars, and Zoom fatigue.

First off, I applaud each and everyone of you for finding ways to stay connected, continue your business, keep your employees, and reinvent yourselves and your businesses. You found ways to continue your board meetings, exercise, networking groups, church functions, community service and volunteering. Our homes became, classrooms, boardrooms, television shows, community outreach and so much more. We learned how to adapt as most humans will and we became innovated creative and outstanding at technology (not without trial and error). You are amazing, outstanding, resourceful, resilient, and determined to get through this year and turn the page to 2021.

I am sure like myself; you had such high expectations for 2020 and really, has it failed us completely? NO, it has not. In many ways, we learned so much about ourselves, the people we love and never had enough time for, and the people that needed help like an elderly parent that were so easy to ignore because of time and our jobs. Or that friend or neighbor you never checked on. Your children who fit into that schedule only to squeeze one or two quality hours a day it you were lucky and share a meal, a conversation, or a story (and not just at bedtime). Oh how 2020 changed us.

I have spent more time in my home office then ever before. On zoom each day 2-8 hours depending on the day, client, meeting, or networking group. I now have a giant green screen that I move all over the room and backgrounds to match my mood, holiday and even a halo with wings. Where the heck am I going with this…

What I have noticed is the “disinterest “or “I had enough of zooming attitude” that is evident when the masses stop showing up to scheduled meetings, planned networking or community board rooms. When people rudely show up late or leave early. So disrespectful.

Here is the point, “we are not out of this yet.” Virtual connecting is a tool and thank goodness we have this tool. Think about what we would have done without it during these last 9 months. I am being serious, we think we have all the tools, all the leads, all the connections and ability to sustain. I say we do not. I say we need to keep educating ourselves, being innovative and intuitive to the pulse of our very existence.

I am tired also of sitting at my computer and talking to the squares on my screen. What I do know, is if we do not stay connected, interactive, welcome new ideas, new faces and new businesses, we will find ourselves alone, without a business, and without the human dialogue that keeps the spirit and motivation of each of us alive…

Zoom fatigue, yeah, I have it but without it, not much else going on… Embrace it!