A day like any other day

"It was a day like any other day" has often been used to begin the telling of a story, yet we are in a time right now where any day can truly feel like every other day. Groundhog Day is trending and jokes abound about forgetting which day of the week it actually is, how many meals we are cooking, and changing from day pajamas to night pajamas!

Despite contending with staying at home and every day feeling the same, I am moved by the kindness, creativity, encouragement, and generosity being demonstrated by so many people, confirming it is certainly not a day like any other day!

Here are just a handful of examples:

KIND started a website called FrontlineImpact to help all those who are giving so much to take care of so many. Toni White Bryan is offering a free self help digital program here through April 30th to help people use time at home for personal growth, and H-E-B stepped up to the plate to help local restaurants (I personally love this idea and hope more supermarkets adopt it and that it continues beyond Covid)

Wonderful leadership articles are being posted that are well worth the time to read, such as this one by Bashir Agboola entitled Fear Itself- Leadership in a Time of Crisis. Susan Sobbott, an incredible advocate for small businesses, also wrote this timely piece, Small Businesses During COVID-19: How To Help These Companies Survive & Thrive.

Inspiring quotes and practical advice from industry leaders including Craig Groeschel and John Maxwell (amongst others) are being shared across so many platforms. #Optimism in the midst of the storm can be found just about anywhere if we choose to look for it.

In my own world, my Coach, Chuck Eapen has put together a bi-weekly meeting for our C12 peer advisory group to come together and support each other tactically through these challenges. This has proven to be an invaluable resource as we navigate the current #pandemic.

Individuals are offering to help by sharing their expertise. I love this message from Giancarlo Fiorarancio who posted it when the crisis first hit our area, demonstrating such generosity of spirit coupled with lighthearted humor at the end which made me smile when I read it. "It's clear that COVID-19 will impact everyone in some way, shape or form. This weekend saw many restaurant groups in NYC (including my own) make the difficult yet responsible decision to shut down their restaurants to help contain the spread of COVID-19. However, it's clear that many small restaurants find it difficult to shutter as the financial impact of that decision is potentially disastrous. As I sit here working remotely at my home in NJ, I have felt that there must be a way I can do more and heeded the calls to support these local businesses by ordering delivery/pickup -- a seemingly reasonable compromise between social distancing and outright closure. Tonight when I went to order from my favorite pizzeria and couldn't find them on #DoorDash, #Slice, #Postmates or #GrubHub, I realized that perhaps I can help do more.

If you are a restaurant owner (or know one) in the NY/NJ area and would like some help getting your restaurant set up on a 3rd-party delivery service, introduced to economical solutions to enable your own ordering site or just want some general advice on your restaurant's technology needs, please DM me and I will share my personal email. No compensation of any kind is needed. (not 100% true -- I may not say no to a slice)  #restaurantindustry "

I have had opportunities to help as well and would like to offer a #shoutout to Ana Farinha who organized an effort to provide 100 bags of groceries to those in need on behalf of Church Alive. It was awesome to be part of it! I also cooked a meal for a friend who is a nurse, and delivered a gift to a woman working in our local bakery, who I could tell just needed a little "pick me up"! While these felt like very small things in comparison to what others are doing, everything we do to care for others matters.

It is important for each of us to remember we have opportunities on a daily basis to lift people up and to help where we can, even in the smallest of ways. Perhaps this is something we can all take forward even well after the pandemic is over.

And to quote the late great Mother Theresa:

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." 

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."