Not Business as Usual at All!

Everyone whose posts I read on social media writes about “when the quarantine (or lock-down) has been lifted” and “when everything returns to normal”, but there's one thing that none of those commentators seem to get: this virus and its ramifications has the same effect on our lives than it would be if we went on holiday and found that some crazy superpower had dropped an atomic bomb on our house while we were away!

In short, there IS NO “NORMAL” TO RETURN TO!

In the space of four months, everything familiar has been obliterated. OK, maybe not your mother in law (sorry!), but the way in which we live has for ever been changed. Priorities have shifted and some will never shift back to where they were. Many people will be unemployed and find that skills that they have spent years perfecting are no longer needed. Not outdated, just irrelevant. Others will be disillusioned with what they have realized is a dead-end job and change direction. In general, while they were at home, people would have given a long, hard thought to their careers and where they were headed and they might simply not want to return to the way things were.

Johan Rupert said it. South Africa's economy will have to be rebuilt from scratch. It's not about keeping calm and carrying on any more, despite what the politicians would want us to believe. There will be new opportunities opening up everywhere, and we need to be the opportunists that take them!

I texted with a friend last night. He is an attorney specializing in property law and his practice took a serious knock in 2008, when the “property bubble” burst. One of his notes was that I should not be missing out on the opportunities presented by this pandemic and that the situation isn't necessarily bad. In fact, he said that this might be the chance I have been waiting for, to make a move that would change my life for the better. I definitely plan to heed his advice.

So yes, I am also eagerly awaiting the end of this lock-down. I have places to go, things to do and definitely a few people to see. And maybe I'll stay there!