Holy. Shit.
Every Corona-week feels like a dog year to me these days. Despite all the uncertainty, anxiety and panic that’s generally floating around, it also made me think a lot. Despite being generally awful times characterized by lots of suffering and loss, they are also incredibly interesting psychologically and sociologically and they have brought out the best and the worst in people. Nelly and I are safe and sound cocooning in our London flat. I’m humbled by all the people who have been checking in. THANK YOU!!! So in these strange and defining times, here are a few nuggets for you:
- Why we need coaches now more than ever
- What made me love people – Resource galore for lockdowns and beyond
- What has me bounce between “super interesting” and “scared shitless” – How much power should we give governments to keep us safe and what world will we live in at the end of April?
- Quote I loved
- What I’ve published this month – An open letter from Coaches
- Catch me live – Yannick’s Coaching Lab (Corona Edition a.k.a. live on Zoom)
Why we need coaches now more than ever
It feels counter-intuitive: hiring a coach in these times of uncertainty and crisis, when you don’t know whether you’ll be able to pay rent or the mortgage next month. Spending money, or even time, on working with coach seems so far stretched. But now, more than ever, people need this space. A space to process, to make sense, to come to terms with a new reality, to face uncertainty, pain, loss and endings, and to navigate through them. Those who have already adjusted will need a space to think, to (re-)strategize, to plan, to have difficult conversations to remove road blocks or unhelpful believes and stories they tell themselves. Couples, families and their individual members will need support to get through weeks and months of sharing the same space without being able to retreat properly. Many of us lose their shit for apparently no reason and it can be difficult to be with each other, to support each other when we’re so close to the edge ourselves. BIG questions surface and perhaps long-suppressed conflicts start to emerge as we can’t avoid each other anymore. Times of crisis often shows us who we are and reveal the essence of others. It invites us to consider how we relate to people, and reminds us what’s important in life.
Whether your life is incredibly hectic right now or you’re sitting at home twiddling your thimbs trying to distract yourself – right now is the right time to work with a coach. And I’m not (only) saying that because I am one and with all these cancelled events I do have some slots to fill to pay the bills, but I am GENUINELY convinced that working with the right coach will always return your investment many times over. I am also convinced that one of the important things we each need to do right now is to keep money flowing so heal the economy. I’m about to part with several thousand pound to invest in my Rocket Supervision arm of the business and it feels weird indeed! However, right now is the time to invest, the time to plan, to create, to be ready to go when the world will inevitably have recovered and is ready to move forward. This is the time to get a coach – you just need to find the right one for the stage you’re at. Here’s my open letter, in which I go into a bit more detail.
What made me love people
So many people, institutions and organisations have made their services or products available free of charge. Here’s but a small selection I’ve come across:
- Free meditations via the HeadSpace app
- Free audio books for children by Audible
- Free dance classes and shows by Saddler’s Wells
- Free Ballet shows by the Royal Opera House
- Free full length plays by the National Theatre every Thurs 7pm
- You can find a lot more by googling
- Oh and I wanted to include this uplifting article by my cherished colleague Niall, founder of The Weekend University
Free Coaching for front line staff and those in need
- Free coaching and therapy initiative by some of my former UEL students
- Free coaching for emotional support initiative by some of my former Animas students
- And my own offer for front line staff (those who risk their health to serve others)
bit.ly/CoronaSupportSession
What has me bounce between super interesting and scared shitless
I’ve had a few really interesting discussion over the course of the past 2 weeks about the degree of power that we should grant governments in these times of crisis to keep their people safe. Seeing (pictures of) busy markets, people shopping clothes on the high street and many other non-essential gatherings, I thought we clearly need to upgrade the UK governments “recommendations” into rules and, if necessary, enforce the rules. Chinese authorities have been seen detaining people not adhering to lockdown measures, with physical force if they had to. This can obviously be a slippery slope into totalitarianism and in the name of fear many awful people have grabbed power over the course of history.
Even now that we are officially in lockdown, the UK rules are very lax and ill-defined. Two days ago they’ve closed the park in my neighbourhood because apparently a bunch of fucktards had BBQs and didn’t give a shit. I was flabbergasted, until I spoke to a friend of mine who does not believe that this whole coronavirus thing is real (or at least not a serious risk to people). And she’s not alone. Many people believe this is big pharma making a buck, 5G getting pushed through, politicians getting re-elected or the healthcare systems finding a clever way to get their funding goals met. As crazy as it may seem to me, as real it is to those people. And many of these would socialize if it wasn’t for the fines, shame or, in some cases, going to jail to stop them.
So where’s the line? How far should we go to protect people? And what’s the price we’re willing to pay for that? Suggestions I’ve heard were to grant governments monthly powers, reviewed regularly and extended if needed or to prioritize those who follow the rules when it comes to who gets a ventilator. Practically this is extremely difficult. Philosophically this touches on the foundations of our system and the values of how we choose to live. These values are being severely tested these days and the answers to those questions may cost many lives…
I wish you all the very best! It’ll get a lot worse before it gets better and I’m scared to let my mind imagine the world we’re living in when I’ll write my next Nuggets.
Quote I loved
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
“If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.”
(Viktor Frankl)
What I’ve published this month
- An Open Letter from Coaches: bit.ly/AnOpenLetterFromCoaches
People need coaching. Now more than ever! Here’s my plea for people to invest. The decisions we make in the next few weeks may affect us for years to come. It includes some guidance on how to choose the right coach as well as 60 signatures (and counting). If you could share this with others who you think would benefit from coaching at this critical time, please do! Or send them my way – I’m always happy to match clients with the right coach and have a huge network: bit.ly/aChatWithYannick
Catch me live
Gutted that so many events got cancelled. However, there’s a lot happening via Zoom and many organizers are (in the process of) shifting events into an online format. So far I’ve only got my own event fully confirmed:
- Yannick’s Coaching Lab – We’ll launch on 7th April (the first Tuesday of the month) live on Zoom. If you’re a coach, this is the perfect opportunity to observe a live coaching session, discuss it as a group and then practice in triads. If you’re curious about coaching you can experience what it might be like to get coached and get some free coaching! Tickets here.
That’s it. If you’re reading this, I appreciate you and I hope you’re safe and that you’ve found a few nuggets among my Nuggets. If you can’t get enough, I sporadically upload past editions to my website’s blog. As always, if any of it resonates, make it swing! I’d love to hear from you!
With Love
Yannick
+44 (0)7914 05 77 03
42@existential.coach
Tweet @Yannick_Jacob (#Nuggets)
