*This week’s post is written by Katie Huey*
In the course of three hours, I heard of a colleague with a fever, winds howling, and cabins filled with history and family memories turning to ash. The community I grew up in is threatened by fire. Where I live and work is hurting. Today was a tough day.
This year unfolded with more tough days than easy ones.
We’ve been breathing shallowly, and washing our hands, and hoping things will shift.
Whether you’re working overtime, or wondering where the work will come from, leaders are facing the double burden of caring for both their people and their businesses.
Like the quick-moving, forceful winds in Northern Colorado, forces outside of our control seem to move us at a pace most of us are struggling to wrap our cramped fingers around.
Just when I’ve adjusted to the next phase of “normal”, new and difficult information shows up in headlines, my inbox, and alerts buzz into my phone.
If you’re shuffling to your home offices after getting kids set up for online learning, or sorting through emails while laying in bed to soothe your hurting minds, it’s likely your spirit needs tending.
As leaders, it’s easy to panic when we don’t know what to do next. Seven months has felt like a lifetime. We’re living in survival mode.
Sometimes, the universe demands a nod to this truth.
You aren’t unmotivated. You aren’t stuck. The world is out of whack.
It’s exhausting right now.
Leaders need to know when to cry, “uncle.”
This blog is your permission to rest.
Take the afternoon off. Go for a walk. Call your team just to chat. Have you had a snack?
Sometimes, the goals and the objectives need to be set aside.
Not forever. Just for a few moments.
Go ahead. Close the news browser. Log off.
Please, take a rest.
The work will be here when you are ready to act once again.
If a listening ear would help you let go, let’s have a conversation.
