When a Nation is disabled...

First of all, as I start, this is my first article on Linked In. While I am a writer, I don’t have another medium that is relevant to deliver this type of topic. These are just my thoughts - we’ll consider it giving public insight into my journal. It will hopefully give you some inspiration or call to action.

It is such a weird time right now with the pandemic. The impact that the virus has had is amazing: across all industries, across the nation, across the world. I have to be honest that I struggle to sift through what is real, what to trust when I’m reading and what to discard.

The shutdowns, the social distancing, it has been such an unprecedented reaction to say the least. You literally couldn’t dream up anything that would shut so much industry down, from restaurants, to real estate, the the NBA .. and quarantine a nation. It’s actually difficult to fathom at times.. is this a dream? But here it is, and because we are adaptive, we adapt.

In the times I’ve had to guide or mentor people through my professional career, I’ve often told them to financially prepare for the unexpected. As someone who has experienced short term disability from a devastating car accident when I was 30 years old, where I was ejected from a vehicle after it rolled over 6 times on interstate at 80 mph, I understand that you literally never know what can happen. Coming from a professional background in finance and working closely with insurance as well, I’ve had conversations with people claiming to not have any assets and yet I point out to them that their ability to go make money is in fact, their greatest asset. And what if that is taken away, as was the case with me a few years ago? What if there is a period of time where you are unable to work, God forbid? What impact will that have on you and your family? I think that moving forward, this will be such a real consideration in so many people’s lives.

In recovery from my accident, I set goals every single day - literally. I was in a wheelchair and my most frustrating times were not the physical pain of the circumstance, but the prolonged time it took me to accomplish things that were so easy before. I believe my recovery time was shortened because of my goal setting mentality and the very positive people that I surrounded myself with. They didn’t ignore what I was going through, rather they acknowledged it, and yet they walked through it with me. They gave me grace for my moments but held me accountable to maintaining a positive outlook and not falling into a depressive state. From it, I learned so much about my strength. I never lost gratefulness that I still had my life when others don’t survive such incidents. I gained a new appreciation for health and the real, raw awareness that no day is promised, something that I so flippantly took for granted before. I learned the value of life and most importantly, felt confidence that I have more work to do on this earth as my life was saved. My life gained real purpose.

Why do I tell you this story?

Could we ever have dreamed that we’d have to prepare for not just an individual disability, but for a disabled nation? It’s pretty wild. It’s as if we’re a nation on “short term disability” and it has the same uncertainty of length, recovery time, and strength post recovery. Will there be scars? Will we have to continue to rebuild through financial accommodations and physical therapy? Yes and Yes. But will we be stronger? Will we learn through this? Will we discover, through it all, our true strength? I believe Yes, Yes, and Yes.

We have an opportunity right now. We can set goals and we can stay positive and make sure we’re surrounding ourselves (virtually) with positive people. I think it’s important to protect what we’re letting into our minds. Would one update per day on the virus be sufficient? I believe so. It’s hard with the literal inundation - every email, every Linked In post, everywhere, you can’t hide from it.. but can you meter how much of it goes in? Can you dilute the impact of the information on your mind - getting what you need to know, but then ingesting a greater amount of positive? I’ve chosen to hone in on the people I follow on Linked In and Instagram providing solutions (which there are a lot), reaching out a helping hand, and offering hope to the nation, the ones who are holding me accountable to maintaining a positive outlook so I don’t fall into a depressive state, the ones who help us all realize that on the other side of this we will actually be stronger. We will realize our grit. We will have a new appreciation for health, for preparing for the unknown future, and operating with the raw awareness that nothing is guaranteed, but we do have control over how we show up in the midst of chaos. Our nation needs our positive vibes, our hopeful and faithful outlooks. Our nation needs us to pour more faith in and starve our fears.

While my nation is disabled, I feel so capable. What if we all rise up in our individual capabilities and do even the little amount that we can to encourage and be present and use our gifts to support each other. I’m not saying we have to ignore what’s going on - but instead of allowing our fears to overcome us, let’s focus on the actions we can take and control during this uncertain time. Let’s recover, in strength, the way we all have to when disability happens.