"Don't spiral, get organised" - Lessons learned during Covid19!

It has been 5 months since the national lockdown was implemented in SA and so much negativity surfaced in the minds of business owners. The heading, our official slogan, definitely says it all, but during this time, all we did was spiral. Our mental health took a dive into negativity, and it was no longer business as usual. Many businesses closed their doors due to loss of income, and online businesses seemed to thrive, or so we believed. Every single business was hit pretty hard by the global pandemic, and even with government funding, it has been a struggle. Virtually OnTrend is an online business, yet we were spiraling! We received no financial relief due to not having permanent employees. Yes, as a registered company we never qualified for any relief, but yet we pay taxes, crazy I know, but this post is not about politics, so let’s not get into how senseless government decisions are.

I have learned a lot about self-control and perseverance this past couple of months, but what I’ve learned is that nothing in life is permanent. As a PR company, things really didn’t look great, and oh boy, I wanted to give up at least once a week, but the little creative voice inside my head kept telling me that now is not the time to sit in a corner and feel sorry for myself. Now is not the time to give up! Now is the time to show yourself what you are made of! Suddenly, our slogan held no value anymore as we continued to spiral, not knowing what will be next, not knowing if we will survive this. To be honest, I still don’t know how this story will end, but I have decided that the story was written already, and all we have to do is play our part. Two weeks ago, I made a decision to never let go of what I believe in, to never give up just because the odds are against us, but to rather become more innovative. I started a project called the I am ME Foundation, which was just a dream; no wait, a figment of my imagination! I have no clue how to manage a foundation at all, but yet, here I am trying to change the narrative with regards to children with special needs! I started a Women’s Month Campaign to help fund women shelters in SA, and to fight against gender-based violence. I did all of this in just two weeks not having a clue about the outcome; and boy does it feels liberating! Covid-19 is here to stay, much like any other illness such as Cancer and HIV, but we can’t let a pandemic control our destiny, only our Creator yields such power! The biggest lesson learned in 2020 is that “Life happens where we’re busy making other plans” so, stop making plans!

The moral of my story is, that sometimes it is our failures that catapult us to success. If we don’t try, we will never fail, but that also means that we will never succeed! We are on this earth temporarily; we need to live as if there is no tomorrow. We have to do things that make us happy, do things outside of our comfort zone, and start living for those dreams. Call it manifesting or the law of attraction, we just need to live our lives to the fullest, everything else is just temporary. No need to spiral, no need to get organized, but there is a need to be proactive, a need for laser-like focus, a need to add value to society, and a need to be positive! Don’t let others dictate how you should live your life or run your business. You are your own biggest fan, and also, your biggest critic, so do what feels right to you!

Think we should change our slogan now, YES / NO?