Unprecedented

Now there's a word we might not use again in a hurry. It is perhaps the most overused word of 2020, but not so much recently.

I begs the question, how long are things unprecedented for? And what is the step down from it?

By now, people know that the shopping centre they cut through every day on the way to school is one way, people know the rules ( I don't want to call it etiquette) around mask wearing, and you would hope that everyone has heard the message about the need to social distance.

With unprecedented comes new complacency. People taking for granted that they know what the rules are such that they become quite relaxed about following them. In the past if there was advice not to travel, people would generally take it seriously and not travel. Now the need to preserve mental health has resulted in people travelling anyway. The people that would never dream of breaking the rules around children being in school in term time, are seeing it as not so serious. After all, they were out for 6 months, so what's a couple more days.....?

With unprecedented comes a new set of expectations. We learn to adjust and that second most used phrase "new normal" starts to emerge. It is now just as unlikely that I will leave the house without a mask as I am to go to the supermarket without my own carrier bag. We have gone through that initial period of forgetting, and have trained ourselves through habit to remember.

With unprecedented comes new levels of performance. Look at how quickly covid-19 tests are being turned around - I got my result back within 27 hours using a postbox last week. Look at how ambitious the roll out for the first vaccine is. Look how quickly digital signage and physical billboards are updated with government messages.

With unprecented comes new hope. If we can pull out the stops for communications, processes and community spirit like this, surely we can bring that into our standard way of operating? And we should because pandemics aren't unprecedented at all really. What's new is our (often taken for granted) access to technology, media and amazingly responsive healthcare.

What began as unprecedented has in fact become a platform for how the world might do things differently. And for that I am really encouraged. In sharp contrast to all the grief, loss and physical pain that has been endured, I, personally, feel very grateful for everything this time has brought me - the reminders of what's important, the opportunities to do things differently, and exposure to things that would never have been so easily available before.

Stay strong and stay safe.

Susie Ramroop is a mindset coach, international speaker and author of Be The Leader You Want To See. You can book a discussion with her about coaching or speaking at www.susieramroop.com/booking. You can get a copy of her book at www.susieramroop.com or www.bookshop.org.