A Global Pandemic
Wow, what a year it’s been. A few days ago I took some time to reflect on what life has thrown at us for the last year + and I thought it would be good to chronicle a few of those challenges. By writing it down I will be able to look back at it when all of this becomes a distant memory, and eventually it will. However, when your living through a pandemic and global chaos sometimes “normal” seems so far away.
A little over a year ago the world as we know it came to a screeching stop. The stock market tanked, millions of people lost theirs jobs, and major cities went silent. Life as we knew it stood still. On my birthday I remember working from home and drafting a letter to all of you with words of encouragement and hope. It wasn’t an easy letter to write as inside I was also uncertain what the world would have in store for my family and me.
Day after day we watched news clips and videos of overcrowded hospitals and a rush to get ventilators made for those in need. Front line workers sacrificed their own families’ safety to go to work every day to try and fight this horrible virus. I know it was a struggle, both physically, mentally, and emotionally I could see it on my wife Kelli’s face when she would get home from work at the hospital as a MRI Technologist. This was one of the most challenging times in history for everyone working in the medical field. I want to personally thank and commend you for your hard work and selfless dedication. I hope it’s never forgotten.
While the pandemic was in full affect a few things were going on behind the scenes professionally that made work a bit more challenging. March marked the month that my lease expired in Tinley Park; I had shared an office there for over 8 years. With most businesses shutting down and closing it was time for me to decide what my next move would be.
As many of you know my family moved from Tinley Park to Indiana in 2019, yes…. we decided to escape the state of Illinois and a head for greener pastures. We made the move and haven’t looked back. My children love our home and we have wonderful neighbors, friends, and family near by.
We’ll it’s a good thing the kids love the house because we got to spend an awful lot of time in it together. As the pandemic unfolded I became a WFH (work from home) professional. Without an office in Tinley Park and not being able to return to work, working from home became the norm for a bit. I think working from home was one of the hardest things to overcome for me. I am a creature of habit. I am a person who has lists, I like to ensure that I am checking things of my list and being proactive, not reactive. We’ll working from home was really, really, tough for me.
During my time at home I had to manage running the day-to-day operations of Wisely Advised which includes a lot of daily phone calls and face-to-face zoom meetings (not my favorite). With the stock market extremely volatile I was spending more time on the phone and making more zoom calls than I ever had in my entire 15-year career. Things were hectic, chaotic, and stressful but I worked hard to ensure that you guys were taken care of.
I remember one day speaking to a client on the phone from my make shift home office and an Amazon package got delivered. My dog Oliver went nuts, the kids were screaming and it was complete chaos in the background. I apologized to this client, as I was extremely embarrassed, it really bothered me to seem so unprofessional, I’m not, I wasn’t, however the noise was just out of my control. It wasn’t the first time and it definitely wouldn’t be the last time but something happened that day that made me so thankful to be able to do what I do, and get to work with those that I want to work with.
With everything going on in the background she quietly in the most reassuring voice told me “it’s ok Tony, everything’s going to be alright, you’re doing a great job, we’re all going to get through this together!”. She meant it, I could tell by the tone of her voice. During the pandemic she wasn’t the only one to offer words of encouragement and support during those difficult times. I want to thank you all for the support, you are the reason I do this and it provides me so much satisfaction when we are able to work together to accomplish our goals.
A slow return to normal
So where do we go from here? We’ll, as many of you know I have now opened an office in Saint John, Indiana. The transition went smoother than I thought it would and in many ways Covid-19 forced these changes upon us instantly. We didn’t really have a choice, we just had to be willing to accept these changes and continue moving forward. We have had a warm welcome here in our new offices with several of you coming out to meet with us in person. In addition we have welcomed several new clients to the Wisely Advised family.
I know this has not been an easy time for anyone, I hear it when we speak on the phone and more recently I can see it on your faces. Covid-19 has left its mark.
Moving forward I am hopeful that we are able to get our lives back to where they were before Covid-19. I know it wont be easy and the road back to normalcy will take time but I can feel a sense of change. I see it when I am on the road headed to meetings, I can see it when I take my sons Jorge & Theodore to their baseball games. Slowly but surely life will get back to “normal” and I am hopeful this pandemic will become a distant memory.
I imagine the pandemic was very different for each and every one of you reading this, I would encourage you to take a few minutes to jot a few things down so that one day you can look back and reflect. If you’d rather forget the last year I guess I wouldn’t blame you.
Just keep in mind, there are good things in our futures, the masks are coming off!