Who are you when the bandaid gets ripped off?

What is a bandaid? It is a mechanism that enables the truth, our truth, to be covered so that we either don't deal with the wound underneath and/or so that nobody else may see what is really going on underneath the “cover”. 

What if we choose to reframe the coronavirus as the wound under the bandaid?

Now we have a chance to really see the wound exposed. 

The wound, the trauma, the bruise, the dysfunction are all being revealed to you, your community, the world. In therapy, and in coaching, we value and encourage people to take a close look at the wound so it is finally given a chance to heal. After months of confinement imposed by the Covid virus, countless leaders’ and organizational dysfunctions are being exposed to the world. The common denominator between all of these newly discovered “defects” in our system stems from the disconnect to Humanness, that society accepted as a norm. A linear trajectory mindset and process in business, leadership or politics has been presumed to be the only way to “success”, bypassing humans thriving, and planet’s health, in the name of growth, self indulging agendas and profit. 

The bandaid has been ripped off on a global level, a national level and on a personal level. Zoom in and look closer:

• Being forced to work from home has discombobulated your world and forced you to look at your own home/work life balance, has it not? 
• Cooking at home has forced you to look at nutrition and the ways you celebrate eating alone or at a family table conversing with your loved ones, has it not?
• Working virtually all day has challenged your motivation, engagement level and leadership capacity, has it not? 
• The fear instilled in you because of Covid has driven you to reassess your mortality, your future, your intimate relationships, even your marriage maybe let alone your purpose and impact on this planet, has it not?
• Losing your job, or the threat of lack, has redirected you to consider alternatives so you can bounce back in case, has it not?

Why do we need a pandemic to really look at what does not work in our lives and in our world? Why do we wait for pain to show up to unequivocally address the wound to speak up, be free and thrive?

Why has a virus shown up at this point in time to act as a magnifying glass on a patriarchal system operating unsustainably from ostracism and division, authoritative fear, and linear strategic skills solely targeting profit at all costs?

Notice the leaders and organizations being exposed now and tell me if there is a coincidence...

• Bankrupt in the first 6 months of 2020: Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, GNC, Pier 1 Imports, Hertz, Le Pain Quotidien, Cirque Du Soleil, True Religion, 24 Hour Fitness, Brooks Brothers, Golds Gym, Lucky Brand etc…

Exposed leaders:

WeWork's Adam Neumann who was found to make dodgy investments, take out large loans from his own company, and pay himself $7M to use "We" in his own company. WeWork's IPO was shelved. 

Amazon: Their AWS VP stepped down after employees tested positive due to lack of PPE, citing a “vein of toxicity running through the customer culture”

Away's Steph Korey stepped down and apologized for a 'toxic culture' where employees were not allowed to privately email and were reprimanded for small mistakes via public chat. 

Brazil's President Bolsonaro played down the seriousness of the pandemic from the outset, referring to it as a “small flu”, resulting in uncontrolled outbreak in struggling Brazil.  

Do you feel exposed? Do you want to expose the dis-ease? Bandaids are recurring patterns to resist handling the truth. A Bandaid is also a belief constructed by the ego to keep us safe in the face of fear like “ I cannot allow myself to feel joy- or thrive- right now because everyone else is in pain”. Are you serving your loved ones, your work, your team if you are in a depressed, disheartened, detached or angry state?

Choosing to remove the bandaid takes Vulnerability, hence a lot of Courage. It requires a lot of Empathy as well to remedy the Shame felt when facing the uncovered pain. When you leave the bandaid, you opt to avoid happiness and fulfillment. Avoidance is over working, overly achieving, suffering (more pain asking the bandaid to be off!), fearing lack, disconnect from your inner GPS, isolation and loneliness, uncertainty.

YES! It starts with Vulnerability and Courage.

Vulnerability to name what you are avoiding.

Courage to simply want to be happy and whole, especially in uncertain times as now...so you lead with kindness, confidence and optimism. That leadership is magnetic!

Don’t become a slave to your bandaids.

Ask yourself: who are you without the one thing that you hold on to? Who are you beneath the safety net and the identity you’ve created? If you were to take away that one thing, whether it be your job, your business, your money, title, etc., who would you be?

Happy? Peaceful ? Bold? Whole? Transparent?

Boldness, Vulnerability and Courage are the gateways to a life lived wholeheartedly, without the masks as bandaids. For you is my very favourite quote for your courage:-)

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

As we are experiencing challenging times, people long to be inspired to re-emerge efficiently, to belong and to feel empowered to perform and thrive within a safe work community. My role right now is to help you identify your blind spots so you re-align with your values, purpose and impact to lead with boldness, empathy and certainty in a fear driven world. please book a complimentary session.