Why I'm not locking down and neither should you.

As I write this, if you reside in Melbourne then Stage 3 lockdown is back. If you live in Victoria, you are probably holding your breath hoping the lockdown doesn’t spread. If you have family, friends or loved ones in Vic, you will feel for them and regardless of where you live in Australia, you’re probably holding your breath too as COVID19 is not going away anytime soon and your area could be next to lockdown.

The rules are clear; stay home, stay away, stay socially distant, stay calm but.......lockdown.

Lockdown is an all too familiar term now. I used to only think of it when I was watching TV shows or movies with prisons and prisoners but now, I read it and hear about it daily. So, before I share why I’m not doing lockdown this time around…let me just say this…

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH (sometimes a good scream is good for you!)

OK, back to the usually calm and ‘we can get through this’ positive thinking Cate. If you don’t know me, positive is my chosen middle name. I’m the ‘silver lining hunter’, the ‘we can do it’ warrior and the 'giggle every day’ girl. Some find my positive energy wonderful and some think I am too cheerful and need to ‘calm down’. Other peoples’ perception of me should be none of my business….but I can’t ignore it because…

Something else you need to know about me is that I have a constant companion - anxiety.

Anxiety for me means there are times when I would prefer not to socialise, not to deliver training, not to be a guest on a Podcast and not to write. Anxiety makes it tricky for me to think clearly or to focus for long periods. At its worst, anxiety likes to stay for a few days and that includes night times when I can find myself unable to sleep because it’s hard to stop the ‘mind chatter’ of worry. To help me sleep, I seek ways to distract myself from the negative thoughts. Reading is great and I’m learning meditation too - that one is a work in progress.

I have a physical response to anxiety too. It’s like a pulsing fist in my stomach and it’s annoying because I can wake up with it and spend the first 5 minutes of the day working out why the fist is pulsing. I search for a reason and sometimes, there is no clear reason. I just feel uneasy, on alert, anxious. My anxiety is not always present, but when it’s having a rest, I’m using my ‘power of positivity’ to keep it away. Anxiety sure is a challenge but it’s one I know how to manage and in the whole scheme of life challenges, for me, it’s low…but for other people, anxiety might be new so opening about anxiety and me, may help you.

Positivity is my weapon but positive thinking doesn’t mean that I put my head in the sand and ignore hard truths and at the moment, the uncertainty of COVID19 sits heavily on the side of anxiety but I refuse to let it lock me down. I know that this lockdown and the whole COVID19 situation could be worse than it needs to be if I let it. So, I’m not letting it. I’m not locking down - I’m opening up. I’m sharing my anxiety story and some good news...

You have 3 keys to help you open up and manage during lockdown - they are part of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and you can access them now.

Self-Awareness / Self-Regulation / Empathy. These 3 are components of EQ and unlike the keys I had responsibility for when I worked in a Bank, the keys to EQ can be used everywhere and you can share them with everyone you interact with - keys for everybody! The annoying thing about keys though is they can be very good at hiding! If you’ve ever lost keys, you know the madness of retracing steps and turning everything upside down and how the stress of the search makes it difficult to think clearly - especially if you’re time poor.

If you're heading back into (or are in) lockdown or are feeling COVID19 anxiety, your EQ keys may appear to be lost and the very nature of anxiety can make it difficult for you think rationally and find your keys. Just know that your EQ keys are never lost for long as they have a built in tracking device; as soon as you think of those keys, you can start using them. If you haven’t heard of Emotional Intelligence before or are unsure how to unlock positive thoughts and actions, then your EQ keys might need some oil.

Heres' your oil - People. People with EQ will help you open up during lockdown. Surround yourself with people with EQ and their empathy key will help you locate your EQ keys and then no-one is in lockdown. Thanks to our crazy smart tech wizards, we have the technology to surround ourselves with people with EQ. It might not be as good as face to face interactions but opening up can do wonders for our mental health. The hardest part can be giving yourself permission to share. It took me a long time (years) to share my anxiety story beyond my family, friends and occasional work connections and I can tell you ….right now, I feel so much lighter.

Maybe writing out your anxiety story is what will help you. You don’t have to share it with the world but writing it down and reading it yourself can be very cathartic.

When my teams (Lightbulb Training Solutions and Just For Schools) design workplace training for frontline customer service teams and their leaders, EQ is the solid foundation we work from. We know EQ is the key to workplace harmony, customer compliments and business success but talking about EQ in our training sessions is just the start. We provide practical ways for frontline customer service staff and their leaders to use EQ daily.

Since many of us are either working from home and/or unable to get together for team meetings etc, we have built the keys into our on-line training.

If you work in a School - your online resource centre and a Special Offer is ready.

If you work in a Business - your online resource centre and a Special Offer is ready.

So, am I abiding by the rules of physical lockdown? Yes! Was the heading of this blog a ‘click bait’ way to get you to read it? Yes! Will I worry that someone will mis-read the intent of this blog, disagree with it or simply dislike it? Yes! But just like lockdown, it won’t stop me opening up. Now I’m off for a walk to get some Vitamin D and distract myself with a Podcast - my current favourite is Hamish and Andy.

By Cate Schreck - Author of The A - Z of Service Excellence (Chapter E - Emotional Intelligence & Chapter Z - Zen)