My Reflection of 2020: Celebrating the good amidst being stranded out of our home in China

5 min read

One of my favourite Christmas gifts in 2020 was a mug from my husband/business partner Mike with “Too Blessed to be Stressed” etched on it. What a profound, powerful reminder after enduring 2020, a stressful year for all of us.

This mug sparked me to write an open and honest reflection about my 2020, including celebrating all the reasons I was blessed – both big and small.

I wasn’t intending to share this publicly, but after appreciating and being encouraged by reading other people’s 2020 stories, I thought I would share mine as well, with the hope of positively impacting at least 1 person.

So here it goes!

The beginning...

My 2020 story starts when I vividly remember sitting at my desk at our home in Beijing on Friday January 24, Chinese New Year’s Eve.

My WeChat (the Chinese all-in-one super app) kept exploding with group messages about the importance of washing your hands, proper hand hygiene, and a “coronavirus.” I genuinely thought,

‘duh, of course regular handwashing is important… what’s the big deal?’

After getting sick of the non-stop handwashing reminders (*pun intended*), I put my full attention towards finalizing a new training program we’d be delivering right after the CNY holiday at our client’s big year-end event.

A few days later, a friend of mine from Hong Kong posted on his Instagram about SARS being a coronavirus. I realized the significance of the outbreak, and therefore, the incessant handwashing reminders on WeChat…

With rampant uncertainty in the air, Mike and I were cautious and only left our home to go grocery shopping.

Over the course of the holiday, the 2 clients we had trainings scheduled for in February told us they were going to cancel them. We then reached out to our other clients and they all, interestingly, said the same thing:

“We’re going to halt all corporate trainings until May.”

With the May date looming in our minds, and already about a month in quarantine, Mike and I made a last-minute decision to leave Beijing and visit our families in the LA and Toronto areas.

The plan was to do business development for Lead with Words in North America for 2.5 months – instead of staying in China with no revenue-generating work – then return to Beijing at the end of April. We arrived in LA in mid-February and then flew to Toronto at the beginning of March.

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We had a treadmill and other home gym equipment to stay active during quarantine in our home in Beijing

? We have supportive families who generously would host us for 2.5 months

? We had an excellent financial year in 2019, especially Q4

COVID goes global.

Then we all know what happened next in March… COVID turned into a global pandemic and shut everything down.

I admit, I was selfishly frustrated because we had already experienced all the hysteria around the initial COVID outbreak in China months earlier, including shutdowns and quarantine. On top of that, we paid thousands for our flights to escape it, only to find out it followed us.

Our plan to do business development failed. All North American businesses were experiencing the same madness Chinese businesses dealt with back in February. Panicking to get everyone remote. Training was one of the last things on people’s minds.

Mike and I kept wondering if and when we should go back to China. But as Christians, we knew God would lead us, so we continued waiting patiently.

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We squeezed in a family ski trip to Quebec before COVID entered and shut down Canada

? Patiently enduring lockdown at my parent’s home in Canada was way more comfortable than at our 2-bedroom apartment in Beijing

Then March 28th happened.

That’s the day China announced it would close its border to all non-Chinese citizens – even ones like us who have valid work permits and permanent residence cards.

The following months plagued us with FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).

‘When are we going to get back to our home in Beijing?’

‘Will Lead with Words survive?’

‘Will I need to give up our entrepreneurial dream and get a job in Canada?’

We were supposed to be working on developing the e-learning format of our signature presentation training, Present to Influence.

But I wasn’t my normal high-energy, productive, motivated self. I was the complete opposite: tired all the time, only wanting to bake desserts and lay on the couch to watch Netflix (surprisingly, I never joined everyone in watching Tiger King...)

Stress was causing physical symptoms in my body; I constantly had terrible migraines and a shooting pain in my arms/hands/wrists that severely impacted my ability to use a mouse and get work done.

I knew I needed to rest, so I was gracious with myself. I took extended periods of time resting at our beautiful family cottage. I was recharged by doing some of my favourite things: waterskiing, going on long walks, swimming, chopping wood, and kayaking.

Throughout these painstakingly uncertain months, I prioritized reading the Bible and praying daily because God was (and is) our one and only Rock – the only constant in life. I was confident this was all part of His plan and that He’d provide for us. I also prioritized meditating (following the 'Switch on Your Brain' technique by Dr. Caroline Leaf) and doing physiotherapy every day.

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? I spent lots of quality time spent resting and relaxing at our family cottage

? I had lifegiving Zoom calls with friends based around the world

The hardest decision.

Then in early July, Mike and I realized our apartment contract was up on September 23. It was a no-brainer that we would have to pack up and put our belongings into storage because we couldn’t sign another year lease with having no idea when we could get back to China. This was sad in and of itself because that home was the only home Mike and I have ever lived in together. It was our home for 5 years.

“Do we have to be based in China for our business to succeed in Asia?”

In mid-July, this question popped up and Mike and I discussed it in detail. We realized that it would indeed be possible to strategically arrange trainings closer together and transition our business to focus more on e-learning.

We have made incredible connections over the past 5 years, serving clients such as Daimler, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Airbus, UNESCO, Vanderlande, ENGIE, PetroChina, and many more top global organizations. We decided visiting regularly (once the border opens and global travel resumes) and staying actively engaged remotely would allow us to continue serving our clients in China and APAC.

On July 13th, we made the hard decision to move out of China. While we were excited for a future in North America closer to our families, this was a sad decision because we LOVED our time in China. I was there for 5 years and Mike for over 10 years. In fact, after meeting Mike on an online dating website – he was in China and I was in Canada – I moved to Beijing to meet him in person! Then we got married quickly and started Lead with Words together in China right away.

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We had an amazing 5 and 10 years living and doing business in China (I could heartily expand on this, but I’ll leave it here for now)

? New beginnings and adventures await us closer to our families in North America (exact city is TBD)

Moving out - via Zoom.

A few days later, we told our best friends, and it was hard. Our decision was so unexpected. Many tears were shed.

Having to keep moving forward, the next step was to virtually move out of our apartment. We asked friends for help, and they were AMAZING! We had Zoom calls and it took 1 week for our friends to sort through our belongings as I gave directions: keep, sell, give away, throw out. Coincidently, we were working from 9-5 most days… my 9pm – 5am!

We ended up keeping only 7 boxes of personal belongings and sold the vast majority of what we owned.

Despite it being emotionally difficult, our virtual moving sale was a huge success. We sold about 75% of what we wanted to sell (including all of our expensive film studio equipment!) and we donated the unsold items to a local orphanage.

We were completely moved out in 1 month. Our landlord even found a new tenant who wanted to move in at the end of August, so we were able to save 1 month of rent, which was very nice after 8 months of paying for rent in an apartment we weren’t living in!

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We have amazing friends who helped make our virtual move a huge success, despite us being 10,000km away

? We had a keypad on our door (as opposed to a normal key), so they could easily enter our home with only a code

? We used WeChat Pay, enabling us to have zero issues receiving virtual payments – a total miracle!

? We unexpectedly saved 1 month of rent!

The turnaround...

While being at our family cottage at the end of September, including enjoying the stunning fall leaves, long kayaks, and crisp air, the Chinese government finally made the announcement all us expats stuck outside were eagerly waiting for: China would open their borders on September 28 to foreigners who had permanent residence cards.

As we had already moved out of our apartment and we weren’t planning to go back until we had corporate trainings booked, this didn’t impact us immediately. But, it was a relief to know that we could schedule trainings and get back in.

A few days after China’s borders opened, we received an inbound email from a senior HR professional at Johnson & Johnson APAC. She was interested in our Present to Influence program. I set up a video call with her, and it turns out she’s been following us on social media since September 2017!

She wanted multiple trainings for hundreds of employees in China. We have now completed the extensive vendor on-boarding process to be J&J’s presentation training vendor the next 3 years. And we’re finalizing details to go to China for multiple weeks this spring.

Furthermore, we continued having online presentation coaching calls with Volkswagen employees, and we managed to lead a training for FEV, a German engineering company, a few days before Christmas. We could do this training remotely because we partnered with a trustworthy friend and fellow trainer based in China.

What a huge answer to prayer after this long, difficult year!

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We formalized a 3-year partnership with Johnson & Johnson

? We were able to continue our coaching work with Volkswagen employees via video calls

? We lead 2 trainings in 2020 (adding a new client too!) I'd normally count this as a dismal failure, but I’m counting it as a huge success in my books!

Our e-learning program is moving along nicely.

This positive ending to the year has lifted our spirits and has given us much-needed motivation to keep persevering into 2021.

We bit the bullet and bought a new film studio setup to have in Canada so we could finish filming the e-learning format of our Present to Influence program. We’ve been working diligently on this program all fall, which will launch shortly, so stay tuned for more info!

BLESSED BECAUSE:

? We now have a film studio set up in my home office, complete with hooks so we can hang random blankets to dampen the sound for better audio (not featured in this photo is Winnie the Pooh and a 150-year-old quilt my Great-great-grandma made)

"Too Blessed to be Stressed"

We had a wonderful Christmas in Canada – the first time with my family in 5 years – and had quite an uneventful, relaxing New Year’s Eve locked down at home.

Thank you for reading my 2020 reflection. Feel free to comment or DM me your stories of celebration amidst difficulties – I look forward to hearing them!

All the best to you and yours, and please remember that you are “Too Blessed to be Stressed” in 2021!

Michelle

PS – Our business trip to China this spring (approximately April to June) will likely be our only time in China this year and we’re looking to schedule as many in-person trainings as possible while we’re there. If you’re interested in getting our Present to Influence training for your people, message me here and I can send you more info!

We also have our live, virtual format (available now) and our e-learning format (launching soon… stay tuned). Send me a message if you’re interested in those!

www.LeadWithWords.com | [email protected] | WeChat ID: 15510628978