15 Dec 2020 · 5 min
Thomas Anglero reflects on how COVID lockdowns have changed us, comparing isolation to being in a jail cell. He urges patience and grace as people return to work and social life, noting that initial awkwardness is normal, and shares an epiphany from a meeting with architects about how we've all been affected.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and this time we've been spending lockdown in our homes because of this COVID crisis, this time we spent in our own bubble where our world was so large, interacting with people, smells, sounds, different topics, has been reduced to— well, look around you right now. You might be in that room, you might be in that space. That's your life for the last 6 months, 8 months, 10 months, a year, a year plus, depending upon when you're listening to this podcast. Your world has been reduced down to a space, to almost a distance that you could touch the walls with both your arms put out. So Extended, sorry. Imagine that. Can you ever thought that your world would reduce to a jail cell? That your mind has been reduced to the size of a jail cell? I was at a meeting yesterday, my first meeting in a long time, outside meeting people for real, and I had an epiphany. I understood something that I wanted to share with all of you. And that everyone's world has been reduced down to the size of a jail cell. Everyone's mind has been reduced to something much smaller than it was, and that we all have to have extreme patience, patience with one another now. In this meeting, I met with a bunch of architects, real architects who build buildings, you know, the architects that I've been around for thousands of years, not for the last 30, 40 years. And as we were talking to these architects, I understood that they too have been locked up in their jail cell of their mind, and that their world has been reduced to just to what they see. You know, like, you know the expression, all a hammer sees is the nail? Well, all you see is what you've seen in these past few months that you've been reduced down to it. And it took us 45 minutes before we understood. I mean, we were speaking the same language, that wasn't the problem, but we weren't speaking the same language. We didn't see, we both were out of practice with open-mindedness, that there's a world other than the world that we have been living in. And the tension disappeared. It wasn't a negative tension, but it was a tension. It was this tension of like, what is this? Why, why does this matter? Why is this important? And after 45 minutes, the two different groups in the room understood that both sides had incredible value and synergies, and that what they were presenting, though they— the other person had not seen it because we're all so locked down, was incredibly important, if not more important than what the, what the other group was working on. My point is, is that we have to have incredible patience with one another as we come out of our holes, as we come out of our our space, our mental and physical jail cells that we call our home office. And be patient with one another. There's gonna be a bit of uneasiness within you. You're gonna be a little nervous, a little uncomfortable, and that's okay. That's just another repeat of your first day in kindergarten, the first time you went to school. At first grade, you want to let go of your mom or dad's hand. You were nervous. Same thing. It's just now you're older. It's okay. It went okay back then, and it'll be okay now. I know the person in front of you is not an idiot. The person in front of you is just like you. They spend way too much time at home, but they're excited to meet you. So open your minds and open your hearts and welcome in everyone. This is Thomas Anglero. I love you very much, and I just want to share this short but important reflection as we begin to work together and meet each other again and spend time with each other and attend new meetings. That moment or minutes or 45 minutes in my case of meeting new people and seeing new things and talking new words and smelling new smells is what you've been waiting for. It'll be a little weird at first, and then you'll never want to let go of it again. Go forth and spread beauty and light. And if you're listening to this before the holidays, Happy holidays to all of you. Take care, and I truly love you all. Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.
