7 Unexpected Upsides of Social Distancing!

“We are in an unprecedented situation and the normal rules no longer apply. We cannot resort to the usual tools in such unusual times.” — António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

These are testing times. The Coronavirus hasn't just affected our present, it has also raised deep questions about humankind’s future.

How much will the world change in the aftermath of COVID-19? Will things ever revert to the way they were? What will this adversity teach us about the world and ourselves?

But here’s the thing about adversity. It has the potential to not only make us stronger but also bring us closer. All we have to do is choose, in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words, “resilience and restraint.”

The Believe in Yourself community of social influencers decided to champion these empowering steps.

We also took up the United Nations’ Global Call to Creatives to get some of the brightest minds in the Indian HR space to share inspiring messages regarding Social Distancing on a virtual platform.

The medium was a Twitter Chat held on 26th March 2020. It generated over 500/+ tweets with a potential impact of more than 2.3 million.

Here are some remarkable tweets and insights we can all learn from.

Q1. What does social distancing mean to you? 

Takeaway: Social distancing means to maintain a physical distance but not compromise on our relationships. Let’s leverage technology to stay connected with the people we care about.

Q2. How do you strengthen your ‘Being’ to guard against Loneliness, Anxiety & Fear?

Takeaway: Don’t suppress your feelings. Articulate the uncertainty and anxiety you feel in safe communities. And pursue your hobbies and wellness programs to take care of your mental and physical health.

Q3. Share one thing each on your philosophy, principle, process, and platform of networking.

Takeaways: Networking in the modern age is about building genuine connections. Add value and be helpful rather than selfishly thinking, “What can I take from this person?”

Q4. During social distancing, how do you use social media to share, learn & engage? 

Takeaway: Let’s use the power of social media for the right reasons. Let’s pre-check the veracity of the information we share, maximize our possibilities to learn the skills we want to imbibe and collaborate on what we’re passionate about.

Q5. What do you do to ensure that social media does not overwhelm you?

Takeaways: Too much social media turns into noise. Limit the number of hours you stay on it, be mindful of the content you consume and share, and indulge in activities in the offline world that spark joy.

Q6. What are you doing to transition from Social Distancing to Business Results? 

Takeaways: The current lockdown is making us realize that remote collaboration tools can compensate equally well for face-to-face interactions. Such tools can help us become more productive which translates into better, tangible business results.

Q7. What’s has been your secret sauce to ‘up the ante’ on your Social Leadership, Social Reputation and Social Capital?

Takeaways: Social leadership gets built on the back of adding value to your community. Instead of fussing over vanity metrics, focus on giving. When you solve people’s problems, they’ll reciprocate by helping you solve yours.

Summing Up

Physical distancing and Lockdown don‘t have to impede our lives. In fact, we can use this downtime to get in touch with many things we’ve neglected, including our deeper vulnerable and authentic selves.

Use this time to learn, engage and add value…to go within when you cannot go out, and to emerge stronger.

How will you use the time of social distancing to get closer to your goals? Do leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

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