Unbiased Narrative 1.3 | I am cautiously hopeful | Angela Champ
(Angela is a Human Resource leader, an author, and Vancouver Chapter President for Lean In Canada. Getting up every morning thinking about ways to continuously improve the working environment motivates her. She strives to create and influence a happy balance between people and their workspace).
Not so dear 2020,
I am filing for divorce and do not contact me ever. You can write a letter to me (I might not read it) or you can call me (I might not pick up the call either). You were a terrible year. However, with everything going haywire, I had my positive moments as well. I published my second book, gained 27 pen pals, and most of all I could spend more time with my family.
Last year seems surreal. I remember looking at images of the empty streets and highways with no people and no cars around. We would go for a walk and no one would be on the roads. It felt like living through an episode of the ‘The Twilight Zone’ series. COVID–19 had already started impacting Europe and the Middle East before it started spreading here. We had seen the Italians singing in their balconies in various news updates. We were doing what was necessary and there was a sense of collective effort. All of us were in this together and at that moment, we all belonged to the same community.
Vancouver went on a complete shut down on Monday (March 16’2020). A day before (Sunday), we were supposed to fly to Ireland for a vacation. A week before that, we could see things shutting down. The parades in Ireland got canceled, Trinity College was closed to visitors, and it was only until the Friday before that we decided to cancel our vacation. Those days were confusing. Also, we were very naïve back then. We had actually re-booked the tickets for July thinking we would be out of the pandemic by then. And here we are one year later in 2021 with zero traveling.
I was on a career break at that point in time. With the lockdown in place, there were only so many walks I could go for or so many books I could read or so many hours of television I could watch. Things were slow and I decided to make the best use of my time. Way back in 2011, I had started researching and talking about ‘Squiggly Line Careers’. And amidst COVID–19, I wrote and published my second book ‘The Squiggly Line Career: How Changing Professions Can Advance a Career in Unexpected Ways.’ I had planned a book launch but had to do it virtually due to the pandemic, but I didn’t want to make it another monotonous online meeting. I wanted it to be entertaining. One of my MBA schoolmates is a musician. With the bars and pubs closed, he often performed live on Facebook so I invited him to open and close the book launch event with his music. During the book launch, we discussed the concept of the Squiggly Line Career and I walked participants through an exercise on careers. My 12-year-old daughter conducted a small door prize draw for some giveaways. I’ve had a positive reception for the book and the book launch event. I am proud of the feedback I received from readers, who say that ‘The Squiggly Line Career’ has helped them in their job search.
I was navigating through the pandemic fairly well. I stayed in contact with my parents through phone/ video calls. I spent a good amount of time outside in nature, being on the beaches and in the forests. In August, I joined the community of #penpalooza, launched by New Yorker journalist, Rachel Symes in the Spring of 2020. It is a community of pen pals with over 10,000 members. I somehow ended up with 27 pen pals from this group and I write letters every day. But, the month of December was heartbreaking for me. Just before Christmas, I lost my favorite uncle. I adored him. Then it was Christmas in lockdown and my mother’s 90th birthday two days after Christmas. Because of travel restrictions, I wasn’t able to travel to Ontario for my uncle’s funeral, Christmas, or my mom’s birthday. That week was a difficult period for me personally.
With the vaccines rolling out, I am positive and hopeful to see an end in sight. This pandemic was not unforeseen. We had experienced SARS in 2003 in Ontario. During the outbreak of H1N1 in 2009, we were preparing a business continuity plan to prepare for so many people falling sick. COVID-19 has accelerated how we think about health and technology. It did cost us a lot to think about work, family, and humanity in general. It forced us to adapt and adopt some good practices such as flexibility to work from home or to give people options. People are diverse in thinking and working preferences. Not everyone wants permanent work from home or a permanent return to the office. They want options. I myself prefer to go to the office and have separate work and family time. That is a work-home balance for me. I like interacting with people and I am more comfortable in an active environment.
I am cautiously hopeful that we get over this pandemic sooner.
