Quarantined with the General: Daily Lessons on Wellness

Pandemic, quarantine, coronavirus and social-distancing - all words that within a few weeks have become part of our daily lexicon.  I live in Mecklenburg County in Charlotte, North Carolina.  On March 26, 2020 at 8:00 am, the entire county was told to quarantine in our homes for 21 days.  The day prior, my husband and I went to the store to pick up a few items; we were good on toilet paper.  Of course, the paper goods and water shelves were already empty and so were the fresh meat cases.  I was amazed to see those shelves completely empty.  It’s hard not to wonder, what is happening?

During the past 2 weeks, I have had a variety of emotions: confusion, fear, anxiety, and anger.  It’s hard to know what to do with all of that.  Additionally, I have a daughter, Jackie, who is pregnant, due at the end of May.  Yes, my first grandchild will be born during a pandemic! That’s a scary thought.

Each of you have hopefully attended a program at West Point with Thayer Leadership. We work in the leadership space, and it’s important that we lead right now.  I personally want to provide you with leadership insights to help during these challenging and unprecedented times. 

In a moment like this, we need to tap into what we know.  I previously had the opportunity to teach Wellness to the cadets at the United States Military Academy, and I believe what we all need is a reminder of the kinds and types of behaviors we can be adopting.  Right now, there is a lot of information on the internet.  I want to provide you with a framework to think about the various aspects of your life right now.  This wellness framework includes five areas of focus:  social, emotional, spiritual, occupational, and physical.  Each is briefly defined below.

Social Wellness:  how well you relate to others both inside and outside of your family

Emotional Wellness:  recognize your feelings, accept your limitations, and have emotional stability

Spiritual Wellness:  life has meaning and purpose

Occupational Wellness:  engagement at work that is meaningful and brings joy

Physical Wellness:  endurance, flexibility, strength and the ability to take care of your body

Here is the plan.  During each day of my 21-day quarantine, I will post a video blog on Thayer Leadership's channel on YouTube.  I will use the framework above to guide my conversations with you.  

My intent is to help you put new tools in your leadership toolkit and remind you of the tools you already have and quite possibly haven’t used in a while -- Leader’s Intent, Tactical Pause, After Action Review.  Sound familiar?

So, tune in each day and watch my latest vlog episode.