My Experience With Covid
Josh Bersin
Global Industry Analyst, I study all aspects of HR, business leadership, corporate L&D, recruiting, and HR technology. ?
I don't like to post a lot of personal stuff on LinkedIn, but I wanted to tell a story. I just finished a two-week bout with Covid. And it wasn't pretty.
While I know many people get a mild case, I found it to be pretty rough. Not only did I spend almost two weeks trying to recover, I wound up with a high fever and a few other little "accidents" along the way. And as I started talking with my friends about it, I realized that many of them had similar experiences.
By the way, in addition to being an unpredictable disease, it plays havoc with your wellbeing. Just knowing you're sick and have low energy can be a bummer, and then there's the problem of trying to prevent your family from getting it. I was essentially quarantined into my bedroom for two weeks, taking work calls from various prone positions.
In my case, I tested positive for almost 12 days, so there was this constant disappointment that "it's still here!" And it's hard to sleep, you get some wild dreams, and the symptoms are widely varied.
Here's my point. I'm doing fine and I'm almost fully recovered, but I want you to all be sensitive to those around you. If you have an employee with Covid, please give them your care. It's a tricky and nasty disease, and people tend to understate what it's like.
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As I started talking with people who had it, I heard lots of stories of people who were sick for multiple weeks, lost their energy and focus for quite some time, yet they "sucked it up" and continued to work. That's not good or necessary. Give your friends and colleagues some time - it's nasty and can really slow people down.
If you haven't gotten it yet, I hope you miss it. And if you do get it, maybe you'll have a small case. But in my case it was worse than I imagined, so let's be sensitive and forgiving to those who get it.
Onward and upward. We're all learning a lot about our lives, businesses, and families from this pandemic. Care and love are the most important of all.
Update as of late June: While I'm recovered I still have lots of wild dreams and still feel less energy. Lots of research now shows you have to rest to get this thing to go away. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29521-z
?HR process & tech leader at 5 fortune 500’s, product strategy/mktg exec, HCM analyst/advisor. ??Top 100 HRTech Influencer 2023, 2024. @SBGHRTech?
4 个月Josh I’m so glad you are doing better! Also, I never told you this but should have long ago … I was VERY lucky to have worked for you back in 2010 alongside several others on the top 100 HR Tech influencer list. Your impact on our industry is even greater than many people think. It’s the Bersin multiplier effect and we all owe you for being part of it.
Founder & CEO, Group 8 Security Solutions Inc. DBA Machine Learning Intelligence
8 个月Your post is valued, thanks!
RETIRED former AVP at Fifth Third Bank and finder of Purple Squirrels
2 年I've been fighting Covdi now for a second week... I got sick enough to test last Tuesday - positive of course - tried to keep working and then woke up in the hospital with all sorts of tubes sticking in me and don't even remember much of last week. Now I'm home and I'm definitely getting better but weak as a kitten and about as much energy as a dead battery. It's difficult to deal with how debilitating this disease can be. We are so accustomed to working through illness that it's hard to take the time to allow healing to happen. Thanks for sharing.
Program Director at University of Minnesota College of Continuing & Professional Studies
2 年Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing, Josh Bersin. I appreciate your leadership here. Empathy is soooooo needed now.
Cultivating Compassionate Cultures for Human Flourishing (X-Adobe; X-Microsoft; X-T-Mobile)
2 年Thanks for sharing Josh! So glad you are better!