What good can we take from this?

I almost didn’t get the newsletter out this week.

The world is a very different place since I last wrote to you. For all of us, but also especially for my family, as we welcomed into the world a beautiful boy, Leo Barry.

What a time to be born.

I almost didn’t get the newsletter out this week, because we’re all hands on deck learning how to care for the little guy, but also because of what’s going on out there. If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’re all a little uncertain. Scared even. Yes, life must, and is, moving on. But things are different. In my note to you this week I want to reflect on the good kind of different. I’ve also shared some helpful links I came across this week in case you find something in there that helps you through this time.

A good kind of different

As millions of people discover what it’s like to work from home for the first time, a few obvious benefits are emerging to me:

1. Things are slowing down.
   • Gone is the frantic pace that starts with the morning commute and ping-pongs at an exponential pace from meeting to meeting.
2. We’re spending more time with our loved ones.
   • Parents are homeschooling their kids. Families are cooking dinner together. Everyone has more time connecting in person instead of via text message or phone.
3. We’re learning.
   • My wife and I are learning how to care for a newborn. Others are learning new meals to cook, or even how to cook at all. Still others are learning how to exercise at home, or how to amuse a family without relying on too much TV. We’re all learning better hygiene. All of these things will serve us well when the virus is conquered.
4. We’re being inspired.
   • The nurses and doctors that cared for my wife brought home for us the special kind of human it takes to live (risk) their life to care for others. Italians are singing from their balconies to raise each other’s spirits. People are donating food and wages to laid-off or at-risk workers who don’t have the luxury of working from home. All these acts inspire us to be better.

We’re still nowhere near the end of this, and things may get worse before they get better. But they will get better. And when they do, here’s hoping a few of these changes are here to stay.

Till next time, stay safe.

Andrew