My Mental Health Journey One Year Into The Lockdown

Author - Robert Manolson

One year into the pandemic, there’s no denying the fact that I have had to adapt. At the very beginning of these uncertain times when businesses were thrown into a most chaotic situation, I didn’t see a lot of choices nor a lot of options for Powerful Play Experiences, Positive Workplace Mental Health... For Teams. The pandemic completely changed my 14 year business journey and everything that I was doing as a workshop facilitator came to a grinding halt. Any and all forward momentum was snuffed out, just like that. Confusion, concern, frustration, and even anger. The pandemic changed everything for Powerful Play Experiences, Positive Workplace Mental Health...For Teams. 14 years of business success was shut down. As a result, my anxiety levels began to rise in ways that did not sit well with me. Through it all, I found myself saying “Goodbye” to a business journey that has given me great times and not so great times. My passion for facilitating “in person” workshops with workplace teams suddenly became something that I no longer had in my life. This was a tough pill to swallow. Sometimes it still is. Over time, I confronted the truth that I needed to make some very big adjustments. After all, I needed money and I needed it now. Was high anxiety still present? Absolutely. When high anxiety is present every day, thinking things through carefully and with clarity is no easy task. Nor is it an easy task to find a way to land on your feet and feel good about yourself when high anxiety is mixed with a history of living with and managing depression. While sorting through all of this stuff, I did wonder if I could pivot a 14 year team building, fun at work, positive mental health, workshop experience business to the online platform - completely. Some people called this the “Pandemic Pivot.” This tagline was not reassuring at all. Trust me on this one. Adapting to existing technology that I was not skilled at, all while needing to learn new technology, had to be the way to go. There was no other immediate fix. And again, not a lot of choices. Knowing that I would experience many challenges with this new way of working was, needless to say, not fun. I had zero skills, zero experience, and insufficient tech tools in my home office. It has taken months of practice and slogging away to actually find my way. I’ve been asking friends and colleagues and experts to help me replace something that I lost with something that I could re-create online. Re-inventing one’s business is a big task. It is, it really is! And even much more challenging with our current pandemic economic conditions. The goal of returning to some sort of certainty with my business knowing that I was in “Revenue Recovery Mode” ( Thank You EBA member for this term ) meant that I had to be very attentive to my daily mental health. After all, I have experienced many episodes of depression and high anxiety during the full 14 years of delivering “in person” workshops and I was determined to not go to that dark place this time around. The best thing that I did for myself was seek out the virtual services of a psychologist. Thankfully, my physiotherapist recommended someone who works in the same rehab clinic that he does and I was able to get started right away. It’s been a positive experience for about seven months now. Be it that my “in person” workshops with workplace teams was shut down one year ago, coupled with the looming uncertainty of starting up again in the foreseeable future, I’ve now set in motion Powerful Play Experiences Online Services: “Help Is Still Here During Covid- 19.” One of my most powerful beliefs hasn’t changed: people need a happy mental place to go in order to feel mentally well especially during these crazy times. I want to acknowledge and thank the many friends, colleagues, and experts who have propped me up over the past year. Each and everyone of you continues to encourage me to move forward. And for this, I appreciate you over and over again. Smiles over here!