Stories from the pandemic

Stories from the pandemic

This issue, Karen Grimm, SLS Committee Member and Senior Associate Solicitor at Morrisons Solicitors shares her own experiences of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted her life.

It’s the end of the world as we know it There is an R.E.M. song with the words “It’s the end of the world as we know it. Hmmm. Well, I guess that’s true and I don’t know about you but over the last six months or so I have had a lot of time to reflect.

Amongst other things I have been reading Bear Grylls’ “A survival guide for life: How to achieve your goals, thrive in adversity and grow in character”, Ben Fogle’s “Up: My life’s journey to the top of Everest”, Shannah Kennedy’s “The life plan: Simple strategies for a meaningful life” and more recently Liggy Webb’s “Resilience”. All are good reads and I can recommend them to you.

I have also been listening to lots of podcasts such as Dr. Rangan Chatterjee about all sorts of really interesting stuff.

Anyway, I would like to share a few of my thoughts with you about my observations and the lessons that I have learnt.

Aristotle said that knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom and I have found that I have been thinking a lot about my strengths, my weaknesses, and how I see myself.

People who know me will know that I am a half-glass-full kind of person and that I always try to maintain a positive outlook even during challenging times. I am not saying that the last few months have been easy and there have been many challenges but as Bear Grylls says “when you stand at the bottom of a mountain, you can rarely see a clear route to the top”. Thinking positively involves recognising the negative aspects of a situation and making a conscious decision to focus on the hope and opportunities presented by adopting a positive attitude. Shannah Kennedy says “your thoughts create your world”. I have been asking myself what I am doing, why I am doing it and how I am doing it. I have found new ways of doing things and ask myself why I have not done this before. I have had to adopt new and dare I say sometimes better and more efficient ways.

I have learnt that whilst I may not always be able to control what happens in my life I can control how I respond to situations. As well as examining my own reactions I have also observed other people’s emotional responses. I have tried to develop a better understanding of my emotional reactions to challenges and I have found that by doing so I am more empowered to cope with and manage the outcome of a situation.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and Charles Darwin said that “it’s not the strongest of species that survives, or the most intelligent, but rather the most adaptable to change”. So resilience you see is our ability to bend instead of breaking when we experience pressure and going into lockdown forced us all to do just that.

Personally, I have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home. I am more focused, feel more motivated, am more productive and I have an improved work-life balance. Of course we are all wired differently and working from home does not work for everyone. The pandemic has forced us to challenge old ways of delivering legal services and find new and possibly even better ways of doing so.

Norman Charles Pearle said that “problems are to the mind, what exercise is to the muscles, they toughen and make you strong” and Shannah Kennedy says that “taking time out to see life from a different perspective” “can give us the energy and creativity to live life optimally”.

Like everyone else I have also been thinking about my physical and mental health of course. We all know how important it is to look after ourselves and our personal well-being. Like me I am sure that you have tried to keep your body well-nourished and hydrated by eating a balanced diet, consuming caffeine, sugar and alcohol in moderation and drinking at least eight glasses of water a day and I find that I am exercising more than before.

I found that my greatest strength came from the people around me, namely my family, friends and colleagues. I have had my wobbly moments don’t get me wrong but I have found that simply being able to talk about a situation was tremendously helpful. How does that old saying go? – A problem shared is a problem halved. And conversely listening to other people’s experiences can be really helpful too. I must say that I continue to be amazed at how we have pulled together and supported each other in one way or another.

I think it was Winston Churchill who said that “If you are going through hell, keep going!”. Not that I think of this pandemic as hell but as I say it has not always been easy and you know what, I think it is okay to say that. Everyone has had their individual struggles. The key I think is to bounce back and get on with life as we now know it. I am aware that this is a time of enormous hardship for so many people in so many different ways but I also see it as a time of tremendous opportunities and change.

I have used this time to press the “reset” button, to create a personal vision of where I want to go and what I want to achieve by deciding what is really important to me.

So, what lessons have you learnt? What new opportunities have you discovered?

Thank you for indulging me. I do hope that you are keeping well or that perhaps you have found some comfort or even some inspiration in my words.

I would like to finish off with some words from Ben Fogle, if I may, who says “remember, you aren’t just a face in the crowd. You’re unique. Despite a planet of seven billion. There is no one else like you. Be comfortable with who you are. Don’t try and be what others want or expect you to be. Insecurity will creep up on you throughout life, try not to listen to it.”

P.S. Have you read “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow? I recommend it to you.

As the uncertainty of 2020 continues, we are pleased to hear your experiences of living through the pandemic. Please do send your stories to helen.opie@surreylawsociety.org.uk. ■

Karen Grimm