Staying Relevant in Difficult Times

By T. R. Shaw Jr.

            As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its relentless path of destruction to our lives, our economy, and our sense of well-being and security, it gives us time to think about our relevance in our world and to others.

            For many, it’s a challenging time like no other.  Fear is driving much of it, but social distancing and isolation is also taking its toll.  For many it may result in depression, anxiety, and sense of hopelessness.  Many of us, including me, previously led very active and socially driven lives. 

I thrived on being with people, taking on leadership roles, and having a full calendar of places to be and people to see.  I valued, for lack of a better term, being “relevant.” Suddenly, it all went out the window; my schedule has been cleared of everything.  Sure, many meetings became virtual events over the computer, but it’s not the same, and leaves us longing for close personal contact.

One of the things I’ve been involved with was being an advocate for our local military.  My community, Battle Creek, Michigan, has long been a great military town, with a large Army base, airport, strong Air National Guard, and federal presence.  In the era of downsizing and base closures, we became activists for keeping our assets here.  By lobbying and taking part in activities to “keep us on the map” militarily, we highlighted our relevance to the bigger defense posture.  Relevance, became our buzzword when we approached how we would pitch ourselves to the higher decision-makers and bean-counters. 

While other communities pitched economic impact, and what losing assets would do to their community, big-picture relevance became our mantra.  It worked quite well, our local airbase became the only one in the nation to be spared from the base closure list, and paved the way for more development that would be long-relevant to national security.  Our community has remained, and continues to remain relevant to national security and our defense infrastructure.

So, how does that relate to our current situation, where most of us are feeling rather irrelevant right now?  How do we stay relevant during this time, where there is little we can do but sit and watch the world go by?

Honestly, I don’t know!  But, I do know we can use this time to improve ourselves and look for future opportunities.  When all this is a bad memory, there will be new challenges and opportunities we can’t even imagine right now.  My feeling is we will come out of this stronger and more resilient than ever before.  Those who used this time for reflection and self-improvement will be the ones leading the way.  Will you be one of them?

            In my recently published book, DEFY THE IMMEDIATE, I wrote about struggling with difficult circumstances and situations with which I was involved through several careers and professional challenges.  In every situation, I came out stronger and better than when I began.  Failure and difficult time is the incubator of character.  Ironically, this is most definitely a time to “defy the immediate.”

            While it’s trite to say “this too shall pass,” it’s equally important to realize we all have a tremendous gift of time right now.  How we use it, is up to us. 

Let us not forget that many of our nation’s greatest inventions and innovations were created during crisis.  It is during these times entrepreneurs were born.  History is full of people and items that came out of a crisis.   In the coming months, there will be new things and processes that will astonish us, watch for them.

While some might deem it arrogant…it is…there is still a concept of American Exceptionalism that has driven our nation forward since our birth.  This time is simply another defining moment in our history, another chapter in our Exceptionalism.  We will get through this.

My way of staying relevant is writing, each of us can do something.

Stay safe, stay positive, and above all, strive to remain relevant in this time, however you define it.  We will all be back to our “normal” lives again soon.  You can bet on it, we’re Americans!

T. R. Shaw Jr. is a Battle Creek, Michigan based author and speaker.  His recent book, DEFY THE IMMEDIATE, A Journey of Failure, Perseverance and Success is a memoir on life challenges and opportunities.  Visit his website, www.trshawjr.com.