Are we working this time? Yeah, I’m back. And then the video went bang, we’re not working. Tech dramas, don’t you love it. Thursday, what a day. Today I wanted to talk, I had a pretty interesting conversation with a client today about how life is changing going back out into the world. Now for many of us it looks really, really different. For a lot of us, we’ve had the bonus of being able to transition and do a lot of our work from home, for a lot of people they’ve lost a lot of work. For a lot of people that have had forced, our entire corporate office has shut down, 6,000 of you are going to work from home till September. So there’s been a whole lot of different stuff going on. Some of us have had to homeschool children. Some people have had elderly parents to look after, it’s really been a mix for everybody.
But over the last couple of weeks, if you’re in Australia and New Zealand, a lot of stuff has changed. And borders are getting more opened up, there’s more flexibility in restaurants and bars and cafes and some businesses are doing a bit more stuff with people coming in. There’s a bit, kids have gone back to school. We can have 20 people in our houses now, whoo. All these things are changing. And the conversation that’s been coming up is like, “Oh shit, what if I’ve been enjoying not doing it all? What do you mean I’ve got to go back out into the real world?” Kind of thing. And for my client today, for example, he was genuinely like, “I kind of, I’m enjoying this. What if I don’t want to do it? How do I go back to ‘normal?'” As that’s what people keep talking about.
And the reality is you don’t have to. There is no such thing as normal. I remember I did a keynote many, many, many years ago for probably about a year, and it was called Say No to Normal, because I don’t believe in normal. I believe we are all, our DNA is so different. We’re inherently different. We’re all different and we need to embrace that. So there is no normal. We’re not going to go back to normal because all of us have morphed during this whole period and kind of deciding on what’s a little bit more important, what’s less important. “Oh, hang on, I can do my work without those five meetings sitting in a boardroom, getting bored. Oh, hang on, I can do my work without having to put on a suit. I could do.” There’s so many different things happening. So we need to embrace that. What we need to look at is how we’re feeling about what we have been doing during this period and how we feel and what comes up for us when we think about getting a little bit more back out into the world. Now I’ll give you an example, I am kinesthetic, so for those of you who don’t know that means I’m all about feelings. So the language that I use is usually feeling kind of terminology and I’m a touchy person. Okay?
In my olden days, back in the old days, I may have actually been called a little bit handsy, but that’s a whole other story. And I’m an extrovert. So for me, this whole period has been a bit kind of weird where I haven’t been able to hug people. I haven’t been going out and getting energy from an environment with people. I’ve had to find that energy in other ways. So as everything opens up a little bit more, I’ve kind of dipped my toes into going out a little bit more, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be as social as I was. I don’t know. I have actually really enjoyed being able to recharge my batteries alone rather than recharging them with energy from other people, and while I’m doing other things like going to see shows, restaurants, all those kinds of things that fill my batteries up. I’ve had to do it in a, I’ve had to learn how to get that energy from other ways.
Give you an example, a true extrovert, of which I, and let’s just be straight, the extrovert introvert thing, it’s not black or white. Just like there’s no, you’re not particularly red brain, red brain. Right brain or left brain, it’s a spectrum for all of those things. So on the line that is extroversion and introversion, I’m way higher up on the extrovert list. However, I love alone time and I have always loved alone time. I’ve spoken before about loving going to the movies, walks for the beach, dinners by myself, that’s not a problem. I can recharge my batteries without other people. But it’s easier for me to be energized by stuff, by people, by music, by laughter, by love, by theater, by all those things that totally feeds my soul and gives me a buzz.
So for you guys watching me during this whole process, a lot of people have said to me, “Oh, Sam, you’re always so energetic. You’ve got this buzz.” So I’ve had to work out how to do that without other people. I’ve had to work out how to recharge my own batteries without being in an amazing theater or being at a restaurant surrounded by people I love or having 10 people over for dinner and having lots and lots of hugs. And that hasn’t been easy. So I just want you to pay attention to how you have dealt with all of this. And don’t think just because the rules, the guidelines have changed and said, “Yeah, you can now go to a restaurant with 10 people at the table and 50 in the restaurant, et cetera,” that you need to do that. You don’t. It’s not like schoolies week and we all have to go out and get pissed. It’s you don’t, you can actually take your time and I encourage you to take your time.
We’ve seen over the last few days people going crazy wanting to get out there and do things. And in all honesty, I think we’re going to get to a point in a week’s time where, I think we’d flatten the curve, I don’t think that’s going to be the issue. But I think in a week or a couple of weeks, we’re going to see all these people just go “Oh my God, I’m so tired. I can’t believe I had to go outdoor with all those people and do all those things.” And people are just going to be like, “Eh.” Because we’ve had to fuel ourselves in different ways.
So to my client today I was just like, “Be kind to yourself. It’s a bit like doing a water detox.” I shouldn’t use that analogy because I’ve actually never done a long water detox, like a juice detox, a fasting kind of thing. Say you did a 48 hour fast and you decided that the first meal you wanted to have after that 48 hour fast was macaroni and cheese. You would be so ill. Your insides would go, “Excuse me, what the hell do you think you’re doing? This is not going to happen.” And you’d be really, really ill. That is what it is going to be like if you throw yourself back into doing exactly what you were trying to do six months ago. It is a different world. The way your nerve endings are feeling is completely different.
So be really kind and really gentle to yourself and break yourself in to whatever it is you want to do, slowly. So I asked my client today, because he’s been given a couple of invitations for this weekend and he felt this, and I asked if I could talk about it, so it’s okay. And I said, “Look, write down what your invitations are and literally sit down and go, ‘How do I feel about it? What’s the good I feel about it. What’s the bad I feel about it?’ And make your decisions based on that. And maybe for every two things that you say yes to over the next couple of weeks, make sure you say no to one thing and give yourself that space.” Okay? That’s all I want to encourage you to do. Mind you, if you are completely desperate to get out there, spread your wings, whoo. Flap your wings and fly to daddy, and do every single social butterfly thing possible, then go for it if that’s what’s going to bring you joy. But don’t do it because the guidelines have changed. Really, please don’t do that because you will be exhausted. Take it easy on yourself and little by little, by little, by little break yourself back into your social shell. So by the time we get to July, you’ll be back on track.
Have a great night everybody. Let me know what you’re doing, what restaurants you’re going to. If you’re seeing anything that’s really exciting that you think I’d be interested in, please let me know. Because you know, dip my toes back in the social world. And don’t forget samanthaleith.com/365days, the number 365, to come to the party next Wednesday night. So crazy. See, I’m talking about not bounding back into the world and I’m organizing a party. It’s crazy talk. Have a great night and I will see you all tomorrow. Bye.