The Gift of Disaster

As a long time humanitarian response professional, I’m someone who likes to look on the bright side. My professional focus for over two decades has been on places and situations around the world where things are not going well, and help from the outside world is required to help people survive and rebuild from natural disasters and wars. 

My professional career has focused on responding to disasters outside of my home country of the United States. When the COVID 19 pandemic hit the world a few years ago, that type of disaster came home, and my family and I experienced the pandemic in a personal way. It was an immediate experience that is not possible when you are working as an outsider in a foreign country. 

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Now that the pandemic has normalized in the United States and we are striving to return to a more normal, pre-pandemic style of life and work, I’m reflecting back in on my experience responding to disasters abroad in over 20 countries, and combining that experience with the personal reflections of going through the COVID pandemic here in the United States. 

The gift of disaster
Disaster is a gift. It is an accelerator of change and progression that compresses experiences, relationships, learning and evolution into months and days, of what could in a more normal timeframe take years or decades. Disasters create paradigm shifts. A paradigm shift is when what you thought to be true and possible changes quickly. Let’s not go back to normal as the impact of the pandemic starts to reduce. Amidst all the pain, death and hardship that the pandemic caused, there are a few positive changes that I hope we can retain. 

Relationships - When you go through a disaster with your community, family or friends, it accelerates relationships. Some of the people that I worked with at my first job in Kenya in the early 2000s are still a part of my daily professional life. Romantic relationships are quickly forged, tested and break quickly or deepen over time. Although my partner and I met in an academic setting far from a disaster zone, the early years of our relationship played out and strengthened while working on humanitarian response operations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Liberia. Likewise, family relationships are stress tested during a disaster. Our family adjusted and bent under the strain of covid homeschooling and remote work but we have come through that adversity stronger as a unit, even as we come through the pandemic and school shutdowns with issues that are still playing out. 

Remote Work - The pandemic accelerated and normalized remote work in the Social Sector and beyond in the private sector. Having worked in distributed teams before the pandemic shift, I’m pleasantly reminded every day of how remote work democratizes our Social Sector pursuits. In a video call we all shrink down to the same sized square on the screen and it's up to our motivation, systems and ideas to make progress rather than power, status and whether you have an office or are out in the open workspace wasteland in a cubicle at your organization's office. 

Breaking out of normalcy and routine and more time with your family - Before the pandemic I sensed that the fully engaged work, school and activity schedule kept everyone in our family focused on good but separate things. The pandemic collapsed those worlds of work, school and activity into one space. It was hard but multiplied the time that we spent together in the same space, all figuring things out together. Although I’m happy that our family and the world is going back to a more standard approach, that time was unique and we may never spend that amount of hours together as a family consistently again. 

Creating urgency - Although death and other tragedies are always a part of life, the Pandemic put an untimely demise as a real possibility for all of us in the early days. I grieve for those who died and continue to die from this disease, but we thankfully have survived so far. Remembering that you will die someday, and that day might soon, is a powerful way to focus the mind. The Memento Mori concept makes it easier to let go of things that matter less. Before the Pandemic I found it harder to say no to lower value meetings and interactions. After the compression and learning of the pandemic it's easier for me to gently decline and save space for writing, getting things done on work projects and taking time to get out for a run or bike ride. 

People helping people - People pull together in a disaster. Neighbors are the first line of defense and assistance. Despite the separation and distancing that we put in place as a society, we grew closer to neighbors and friends in the various covid pods we created to intentionally create community. 

Making it work for you
So how do you see the gift of disaster? Has it been helpful in your life or do you see it as purely negative? The only sure thing is that there will be another disaster at some point. When it happens, can you see it as a gift? 

Happy trails