Kirsten Alderson, CEO, talks about the lesson’s learned throughout the pandemic.
If there’s one question I’ve constantly been asking myself and my team throughout the pandemic, it’s been this – ‘What are we learning?’
While none of us like the fact that we’ve been thrust into this difficult world, and that we have no idea when a sense of normality might ever emerge, we can at least be reminded of how we’re adapting, the difference we’re making, and the ways in which we’re helping those who live in our community.
Writing this, four months on from the formal lockdown, I thought it would be worth sharing with you my standout learnings, and perhaps encourage you, in reading this, to also think just how much you’ve achieved and how you’ve overcome more than you believed you might:
LEARNING ONE: Personal Wellbeing Should Never be Underestimated
It’s been so easy for us all to get caught up in a whirlwind of activity and demand, but I learned very quickly during the pandemic, that I had to keep taking care of me. No matter whether we’re running a business or a home, we cannot do our best by others if we don’t look after ourselves.
LEARNING TWO: You’re More Agile Than You Think
Technology, as we all know, has been advancing at such a pace in recent years, but it’s only because of the circumstances of the lockdown that we all began to embrace aspects of it so much more….and thank goodness we did. The use of tech is just one way in which all homes, charities and employers have proven their agility and been able to prove to themselves that they really could ‘adapt’ in ways they might never have thought possible.
LEARNING THREE: Partnership and ‘Community’ is Vital
For Suffolk Family Carers, working with partners has been so crucial in ensuring that we could meet the needs of the thousands who have needed us across the county. That’s been true of the schools we’ve worked with, the other charities we collaborate with, the hospitals which have enabled us to deliver such critical initiatives as At My Bedside, and the funders and businesses who have also stood shoulder to shoulder with us throughout.
That sense of partnership and community is key for everyone. Whether you live on your own, or with a family, or are part of a business or not, we all need to feel aligned with, and supported by, others who understand what’s happening for us.
LEARNING FOUR: Always Celebrate the Wins
When the world gets busy, and at a time when we feel there’s so much despair, fear, frustration and sadness, it can be so easy to forget to applaud the very things we are achieving.
Every single one of us needs to remember on a daily basis just how much we’ve done to make it through the last few months, and what a difference we’re making to others.
Whether we’ve helped someone raise a smile, or we’ve delivered some shopping or given someone a mobile phone to use in hospital – these are the things that have made a difference, and these are victories which must be celebrated for the important results we’ve achieved.
Although these lessons are very specific to how I’ve experienced the pandemic, as CEO of Suffolk Family Carers, I hope that some of my reflections might be ones which you and your family can relate to.
Who knows what progress the world will have made in another four months from today, but I know I’ll be taking forward these learnings and reminding myself that with self-care, community, adaptability and a little applause, we’ll all get through this and continue to help one another to the best of our ability.
