How’s it Going?

Before mid-March, “How’s it going?” was my standard follow-up for just about anyone after saying “Hello.” It was a simple check-in with an anticipated response: “Good. And you?”

“Good!”

That was a long time ago.

It’s been a heavy year.

After the pandemic hit, I’d catch myself in my heuristic greeting. The weight of it had changed. The truth was almost certainly “Stressed,” “Panicked,” or “Difficult.”

I’ve been amazed at what the past nine months of wrought and how my friends and family, our customers and our employees have taken the burden, faced the difficulty, dealt with the pain and carried on.

It’s been a heavy dark cloud on all of us. Not to say there haven’t been silver linings. A cloud this size is bound to have a number of silver linings. Among the little things, these are the big takeaways from this year that we can all be proud to carry with us:

We survived. We shut down our country and our lumbering industry shifted in a matter of weeks. In–person visits changed to Zoom calls, FaceTime, or phone calls and we kept moving.

We bounced back. After the initial shock and pivot we established a new normal, ensuring that mental health services were available to those who needed it when they needed it.

We’ve seen what we’re made of. I was amazed at the out-of-the-box thinking employed during the pandemic. We saw our industry – from insurance carriers down to solo providers – work together to serve our people.

We are looking forward. There is promise again. We can make plans around a new normal that’s just off in the distance as we focus on recovering from this pandemic.

We are changed. There will be a new normal. It won’t be the old normal. The weight of the pandemic off our shoulders doesn’t mean it’s off our minds. But now we know what we are capable of, and knowledge is power.

I don’t say “How’s it going?” any more without understanding the weight of the question. It’s too flippant. This year brought to the forefront the sacrifice and fortitude, the empathy and tenacity of every single person affected by Covid-19. To ask how it’s going without really wanting to know is to do all of that a disservice.

So how IS it going?

It’s been hard. It’s still hard. But it’s going to get better.

Stay healthy this holiday season,

Paul

Paul Jonas is co-founder and COO of BreezyNotes.