Amid the Chaos, We Can All Help, Part 2 (With Your Health in Check, Reach Out to Others)

As an executive coach, I help leaders and teams reflect, learn, and navigate challenging situations every day, and yet, the pandemic has unsettled our approaches to work life, and has left many very powerful and influential people feeling helpless. I, too, feel that way, but as I began to outline in Part 1, I identified many ways that we can all help and be effective. While we may not be on the front lines, we can help foster interpersonal connections, support the economy, and give to those in need in ways we might not have considered. Even better, our efforts have a multiplier effect—the beneficiaries of generosity are more likely to reciprocate that generosity or pass it on to others, creating a tidal wave of generosity.

Here are some ideas:

Support people who have lost their jobs or who have experienced significant income reductions.

• Order takeout/delivery from local restaurants. It’s safe! In many states, restaurants, bars and cafes have been closed. In many cases, the entire staff of a restaurant has been laid off and doors have been closed. Nationally, experts estimate 5–7 million restaurant workers will lose their jobs during this pandemic. Where takeout is still an option, your order could provide income for some staff and increase the likelihood that the restaurant remains viable and is able to rehire its staff post-pandemic.
• Buy gift cards from local retailers and restaurants for use post-pandemic. Gift cards provide needed income to these small businesses today so they can stay afloat. You can give them to friends, family, and clients to use when stores and restaurants re-open.
• Pay service providers you have stopped seeing. So many of the people we rely on are not getting paid at all right now—house cleaners, childcare providers, dog walkers, fitness trainers/instructors, massage therapists, hairstylists, spa therapists, and many others. If you are fortunate enough financially, you can support these individuals by paying them what you would have if they had been working on your behalf.

Give time and energy. Research shows that helping others buffers our stress response and engages our parasympathetic nervous system, allowing our bodies to rest and recover, and for critical systems (for example, digestive) to work properly. Here are a few ideas for ways to help others—which also helps you:

• Assist your at-risk neighbors. Shop for and deliver groceries and needed medicines and offer to run other critical errands.  
• Organize neighborhood meal delivery. Pick a local restaurant and email your nearby neighbors, offering to order, pick up, and safely deliver their dinners one night.
• Educate seniors on virtual options. Many seniors do not know about and/or know how to navigate video calls, apps for meal and grocery delivery, and other online services. Show and teach them how to use these services—at a safe distance, of course!
• Inquire at your local hospital, synagogue, church, food banks and pantries, or local nonprofit to learn how non-medical folks can help.
• Give blood. Supplies are at critically low levels. Contact the American Red Cross or your local hospital to find out where you can safely donate.
• Plan a volunteer vacation. Decide with your family and/or friends that, instead of taking your next vacation (which may already be cancelled) you will spend that time volunteering. Select your volunteer activities now and make a plan.

Create community

• Support medical professionals or first responders. Think of the people you know in these roles. Ask how you can support them and their families while they are on the front lines protecting all of us. Run errands, clean their house, wash dishes, pay bills, do their laundry, mow their lawn, look after their children (with precautions, of course), or offer a virus-safe space for their families while they are coming and going from the front lines and likely worried about bringing the virus home.
• Connect with people who live alone or are otherwise socially isolated. Research shows that social contact is critical for our physical and mental health. You can call, text, video chat, walk by their house and wave, send them a book suggestion, or share a fun video.
• Create support systems now when people are healthier, so you’re ready to activate when folks get sick. Establish a small group of people who are willing to look after one another if one or more falls ill. Share relevant contact information now and make a pact to both ask for and give help when it’s needed. 
• Get creative! Create community with friends, colleagues, and/or family in new ways—text groups, coffee across the street or driveway or across the hall, email photos of shared experiences to reminisce about happy times (which also stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and generates feelings of calm), or explore the ways to connect via video—coffee, lunches, drinks, happy hours, book clubs, AA meetings, birthdays, parties, prayer meetings, reunions, etc. The list goes on and on.

Give money. Many organizations need your financial support right now to take care of a high volume of sick patients and to feed, house, and otherwise care for those hardest hit from our economic downturn. Beyond helping them with your financial gifts, studies show you will also derive happiness from giving money to others. That vacation you had planned? Find a way to donate some of the money you might have spent there. 

At a time when many of us are fearful and uncertain, it can be tempting to withdraw, hunker down, and worry alone. If you are one of the 70 million (and growing) people who are being asked to stay home, that temptation is likely even stronger. But your community needs you. Of course, stay home, but look after others. Put your skills to good use in service of others. Use your financial means to provide for those less fortunate. 

And as I ended Part 1, I will end Part 2—the wise C.S. Lewis once said these timeless words: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”