Today I was supposed to be boarding a plane to my picturesque Bosphorus-view flat to spend three months of a four month sabbatical soaking in the inspiration that only the magic of Istanbul can offer. Instead, I spent Day 1 of Ontario’s shutdown of essential services working from my dining room table, writing communications about a global pandemic.
The world has changed so much in the past little while. Two weeks ago today, I was starting to get concerned, but still thought I’d be going. By the Friday, I was sure that even if I went, I’d have to self-quarantine for two weeks, but that all would be fine. And what writer doesn’t’ love the thought of two weeks alone anyway?! By Saturday, I knew that to go, I’d have to change flights, and airlines, but I still thought I might well go. By Sunday, when I understood my overseas health insurance had been revoked, I knew I was staying.
It’s surreal.
For several hours, I tried to envision a sabbatical on the water somewhere else in Canada – we have plenty of shorelines to choose from. But I couldn’t imagine taking such a naval-gazing, self-introspective creative break RIGHT NOW, when there was so much vital communications work to do, and while so many people – absolutely everywhere – are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. So with the blessing of my employer (who is probably happy to have the extra help right now), we hit pause on the whole sabbatical idea and we’ll revisit it when the world has recovered.
It took a few days to wrap my head around things. All of a sudden, I had to think about work! I had to think about new employees who were onboarding and what their first days and weeks should look like. I had to look at continuing projects and worksharing. And then we added the complexity of communicating with a workforce about COVID-19 and its impacts on us.
Last week, it felt like every time my team finalized something, it was already out of date. Information was changing constantly; we were all reacting to it and trying to make sense of it. Getting ahead of it felt impossible. And then when we finally went home, there was no relief.
Wall-to-wall COVID-19 from the time we woke up until the time we went to bed. And although one key messaging we were communicating broadly, and I was reinforcing with my team, finding time to take care of my own mental wellbeing was challenging.
There’s still a lot of crazy in the world, but today, for the most part, I feel slightly less unbalanced. I’m not sure if it’s that I’ve processed my feelings now on the deferral, that I’ve moved all my work tech home, or it’s just that I’m now firmly in the eye of the coronavirus hurricane. But I’ll take it while it lasts.
If we all do our part by practising social distancing and self-isolation,we’ll get through this. My little disappointment is nothing compared to what others are experiencing. So to those of you also working from home, I wish you productive days from your dining room, kitchen, living room and bedroom makeshift offices. To those of you who have been declared essential services, we salute all that you’re doing for the rest of us. If you’re not working, enjoy the time with your family – your little ones may remember these days of ones with more family dinners, more board games and. If you’re quarantined, may health be yours.
And for me? When I’m not working, I’ll be dreaming about the rescheduled sabbatical – and when the time is right, it will be that much sweeter,
