Last week I woke up in a panic from a bad dream and began Googling: “What Do You Need in a Pandemic?”
It was a spiral of fear, concern, predictions of imminent doom, and list-building for the end of the world.
Everyone on the news racing to buy all things necessary, posting online about their rush to Costco, Walmart, and buying as much toilet paper as possible.
My conclusion is: There will be a lot of people going to the bathroom in a pandemic!
Ok, dumb joke, and not to make light of this at all, but truly we can be scared into fearful living pretty quick.
At the same time we were talking with our children about the importance of being healthy, washing hands, eating smart, working out, and very good conversations at any point in life.
Mostly just to stay positive and live life!
All while our kids were being scared at school, my peer groups are freaking out online, for good reason: Not only are people dying outside of our country, they are now dying here. This is real and not only affecting the lives of others but it is tearing apart my industry as a full-time Speaker.
Events are cancelling left and right. Millions of dollars being lost on all sides. Not only is the worry for our health a life-threatening problem, now it’s hitting our pocketbook, our lifestyles, and abilities to provide.
Speakers get on planes to travel to speak at large conferences. Many of those events are canceling, and even speakers are! It’s another added burden on top of the fear of the health scare.
I know for my gigs, my events that are confirmed, I am getting on a plane and going to that event even when I’m concerned for my health.
I mean, I’m the guy who flew into a war-zone in Afghanistan with bombs exploding in neighboring cities and performed on stages with a protective vest and helmet, in order to fulfill my commitment to those fulfilling theirs to protect us!
That was scary but we still went, did the job, and grateful we got to return home safe. Not everyone does. But you still do the job, you still keep The Promise and show up, keep your commitments, and hope for the best.
And yet, things are adding up big time and fast!
During all of this panic we have tried our best as a family to keep calm. To be smart, wise, but also to keep going.
I spent the whole of last week in Primeau Production’s recording studio filming my soon to be released Audio Book, as well as the new Video Book concept, in anticipation of my Physical Hard Cover Book being released in August 2020.
This week I spent 12-18 hours per day digging through scrapbooks, video vaults of hard drives, DVD’s and online, trying to gather everything I could find to send to the editors of my new Video Book, which will show stories of me in my youth and beginning of my career, over the top of my narrating the book. It will be magical and wonderful!
Yet if we all die and it’s the end of the world then what’s the point?
Well, I think we will mostly be ok, at least I hope so, and I’m living as if we will be.
But the thought really hit home – Do I have things in Order?
Not to say I have to be perfectly organized in all ways, but how huge this project became was an eye-opener for me.
Photos, videos, stories, scattered between my home, my Mom’s bins and scrapbooks, in the attic and basements, almost none of it digital…all of it finally scanned, archived, put in a collection, in the right place, to serve us, was of the essence for our success with this project.
Looking around our home in terms of survival, staying warm, fed and healthy in case of a real threat and lack of imports coming to our country, are we ready? Do we have our things in order?
There is a way to create Peace during a time of Fear. I believe, on top of our foundations of faith, hope, and looking for light amidst the dark, is also the importance of having things in order.
So, while my peers were taking selfies next to the lineup of people waiting for bottled water shipments, I was grateful to know we have been stockpiling the “end of the world” stuff for years as a family just by way of following instructions by our church leaders called “Provident Living”. So we are pretty well in order.
Which allowed me to work on getting other things in order to continue to do business.
Perhaps my peers already have that portion of their lives in order, for which I’m totally amazed!
It was a profound insight, and makes me wonder what my level of promise is, in terms of being in order.
Financially, Emotionally, Intellectually, Spiritually, Socially…
Peace comes with Order.
Peace comes with Preparation.
Peace comes with a resolve to keep living our best lives even when things look bleak.
Peace is found when we keep The Promise to ourselves, our families, our work, and our world.
What do you need to get in order to have Peace at a time like this?
~ jason
Leadership Expert * Author * Speaker Hall of Fame
The Promise
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2 Responses
So how much toilet paper do you really have? 😉
😂 Just enough