To Help - Hold Space to Talk About Fears And Feelings

Have you seen that meme about being really tired of living through major historical events? Give it a Google if not, it is heartbreakingly spot on for all of us. If anyone sat us down in 2010 or even 2019 and said “Brace yourself - a global pandemic that will bring about millions of deaths and at least two years of lockdowns is coming and once that’s somewhat finished you’ll be looking straight down the barrel of WWIII” we would have never believed it. It sounded like the plot of a B rated movie. It still does.

What of the bracing then? How would we have ever? What would have had us more prepared?

Like I said before, I believe that those of us who had agility inbuilt at DNA level already when all this came about, probably fared a little better when it comes to having shorter refractory periods and being able to roll with the punches due to sheer previous exposure to limit situations and rapidly-modifying circumstances.

This doesn’t mean you had it much easier in any other way and in a sense, knowing you’re the fittest to deal with the speed comes at the cost of raised stakes responsibility-wise and many in the DevOps community demonstrably worked harder to spread education, understanding and reassure the rest of everyone that it is doable. Where “it” is still performing, caring and working from home on a background of extreme fear and monumental risk to life.

Not only had those of us in this community great reserves of obstinate flexibility but we were -or hopefully “are”- very resilient too. And then the courage. And the thirst to be ever better even in the midst of this unimaginable survivalist drill.