What Got Us Through
Tara Jaye Frank
Award Winning Author of The Waymakers. LinkedIn #TopVoice. Equity strategist. C-Suite Advisor. LinkedIn Learning Instructor.
There’s more space in my calendar now.
The flight alerts are gone.
Our children are social distancing –
from school, friends, sports.
None of us knows what comes next.
I’m holding my breath –
not just this minute, but all the minutes.
Scanning the horizon for silver linings
in a fog I believed would come much, much later.
Creature comforts no longer feel comfortable.
It’s been mere weeks, and already
I would trade modern conveniences
(grocery delivery, streaming, webcasts)
for the things I’d trained myself to minimize –
a carefree trip to the store.
A Friday night at the movies with loud teenagers.
A business meeting I never wanted to attend.
But here we are.
Alone, together.
Clinging to our routines with a growing awareness
that half of them mean very little now.
I’m busying myself by peeling back the layers.
Reflecting on what matters, and who.
Doing seemingly mundane things more thoughtfully:
making dinner, listening...telling stories.
Considering how I can do the most good.
We must stay alive, friends –
mentally, emotionally, and relationally.
We must harness our inherent value and pour it out –
into shadowy spaces,
onto people who are suffering,
over rising fear and helplessness.
I’m starting here. With this. With you.
With creativity and vulnerability and generosity and love.
Because with all the technology
and affects we’ve wrapped around ourselves,
they are, in fact, the only things that ever got us through.
Tara Jaye Frank is a passionate leadership speaker and consultant, a blessed wife, a grateful mother of six children ages thirteen to twenty-two, and a firm believer in human potential. She designs and facilitates leadership experiences for companies and member organizations and recently founded #MoreThan: A Movement - a healing movement toward deeper understanding between disconnected people. Share your #morethan story at morethanamovement.com and join the movement on IG/Twitter @morethanmove, and on Facebook @morethanahealingmovement.
CEO. Entrepreneur, Corporate Board Director and former C-Suite Executive (3x CMO). Organic Growth, Customer Value Creation and Organizational Culture Transformation Expert. Author and Speaker. Equity Advocate.
4 年Yes, Tara Jaye Frank, it’s about people. Hasn’t it always been about people? We, somehow, forget at times and times like these remind us.
Retired - former Leadership Coach/former Fortune 250 Sales Executive; Thought Partner; keenly interested in Human Behavior
4 年Beautiful! Stay strong my friend. Be safe.
Visual Merchandising Creative Leader
4 年Thank you for this!! I went for a walk with my husband yesterday and talked with him about feeling like I’m not doing enough. Is staying home the way I do the most good? Of course, I’m staying in touch with others and encouraging friends and family. I’m sending snail mail like it’s the ‘90’s. And I’m sending groceries to a friend who is covid19 positive. But I’m an able, willing, smart and driven lady, and I feel like I can do so much more. Maybe it’s the cooped-up-ness. And I’m a doer so to figure out how I can do the most good while staying home is a tough one. Thanks for this post. You always know just what to say.
Behavior is Contagious? | Human Sustainability | AI | Coach | Consultant | Keynote Speaker | Panelist | AQ+E2Q+IQ? | People Geek | Neuroscience Nerd | Radical Inclusion and Love
4 年Love this, Tara Jaye Frank. Love to you... ??
TEDx Speaker | Keynote Speaker | Certified Dare to Lead Facilitator? | Advocate | People Belonging & Inclusion Strategist| C-Suite Advisor | Writer |Truthteller |Status Quo Disruptor
4 年Love this, Tara Jaye Frank