Open letter to my colleagues at Suara
Once again my support and recognition for the great task you are carrying out these days, which are not easy to handle. You know that what you are doing is of incalculable value, because it is born out of a commitment to the most vulnerable and weakest people in society. I would like to share a reflection with you in case it might help us.
In times of crisis like the ones we are living now, very different scenarios can appear that can place us before fear, learning and growth. I would like to comment briefly on them:
- When we are in the fear zone, we are contaminated by a virus that violently affects our vital state. That is to say, our state of mind. A virus that can alter our thoughts, feelings and actions. It can even cast doubt on whether what we are doing is right or if it will serve any purpose.
- This virus is highly contagious and spreads very easily to the people around us, the people we care for. It does so through our verbal and nonverbal communication. And it infects our attitudes with negative thoughts, contaminates our know-how in life and confines us in a state of uncertainty, sadness, discomfort, anxiety ... And sometimes it even weakens us so much that it does not let us ask for help, it can plunge us into the disease of pessimism.
- Sometimes we want to fight fear with an overdose of unverified information, of thousands of news, most of them unreliable, we have even seen in the past days how fear led people to empty supermarkets supplying products they will never need, or to ask pharmacies for all kinds of medicines. Fear is very powerful and contagious and makes us imagine irrational situations that will never happen, as if it were suddenly the end of the world.
- When we are in a learning zone we are predisposed to fight the virus of fear, being aware that we cannot control everything, and that in front of us we have a new reality, a pandemic that we call coronavirus, and we can only do what is in our hands: put into practice a series of instructions and processes and be predisposed to be in the front line trusting that everything will be fine.
- It is about increasing our confidence in our professionalism, in our skills and resources, remembering times when we have also gone through difficult and complex situations (different from the ones we are living today, of course), but we have been able to solve them, we have been resilient and we have faced adversities and we have even been successful.
- Widen our gaze and know that we are part of a large group of professionals from different disciplines who bring their best know-how into play, and who every day, taking a breath, connect with their emotions, breathe and feed themselves with positive messages. Because in times of learning, every piece of the puzzle is important, no matter how small it may seem, and we are also part of the solution and part of remedying the damn virus.
- Many of you are already in the growth zone, because you have been able to step out of yourselves, to empathize deeply. To think about the people who need us and to understand that what they are asking for is for us to be by their side and for them to be able to count on you.
- Growth involves uncovering your personal leadership: self-management, communication, adaptation to change, self-knowledge... A situation to take hold of professionally and personally, and to think of new ways of relating to people who are confined, to develop your creativity by putting into practice new methodologies and ways of doing things that were unknown until now. Even to rethink the current models of care for people.
- We also grow when we find moments to dedicate to ourselves to take care of ourselves inside, to stop, to reflect, to connect with the inner calm and serenity so necessary these days.
- In the growth zone the key questions appear: Why do we do things? What is our purpose in life? What is the meaning of what we do? And these are moments to look inside ourselves and rediscover our true vocation.
I wish you to move from one stage to another, and that you take good care of yourselves in order to continue caring, which is the reason for our profession.
For all this we want to continue accompanying you in this difficult stage: from the Suara service at home you can count on free sessions of psychology, coaching, bereavement support and physiotherapy. We are waiting for you!
Miquel Moré. Suara partner and coach of the 'Suara at home' service.
