The first step for me to make the best of the situation was to look at the advantages and positives of my specific situation. The largest of these being that, as a member of the National Park Service—Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program’s communication’s team, I was in the position where my current work could be done remotely while still maintaining over 95% of my workload. Another huge upside to my current situation is that although it was true I couldn’t see and interact with my coworkers in a traditional sense anymore, due to the current state of telecommunications I’m still hearing from everyone at least 3 times a week to ensure I can keep in touch with what is going on at the workplace.
The next step for me to make the best of this situation was to do my best to keep a positive mindset. Although my world was being disturbed quite a bit, keeping occupied and keeping focused on the task at hand was the easiest way for me to do this. The most important part of this was keeping a consistent weekly schedule, even for the small, non-work-related things. Scheduling time to talk to friends, or even a day of the week to order delivery make it much easier to keep track of time and have things to look forward to. Having these small rewards at the end of a long day of work makes those days so much easier to deal with given the extreme circumstances.
These are extraordinary times, but it doesn’t mean that you must let it ruin your life. I encourage everyone currently at home to take control of the situation and make the best of it. In the words of the immortal Cave Johnson, “When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons; what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down... with the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!”
Written by Elijah Olomoniyi, Communications Fellow in Washington DC.