This COVID-19 pandemic is super frightening, and also can be especially distracting as you and I seek to find new information about it throughout the day, productive time replaced by worry and obsession.
Recently, this obsession was highlighted for me, and I made some changes to positively refocus and refresh that I wanted to share with you. I’ll detail these for you shortly, but first a quick, relevant story…
A few weeks ago, during a time after COVID-19 had taken over the headlines but before local quarantine, I was cruising south on I95 between my home in Boca Raton and a client in North Miami.
I was distracted thinking about the awful news from China and South Korea concerning the spread of this virus by people who weren’t even showing symptoms. Truthfully, I was feeling fearful and anxious, and learning and processing new information about COVID-19 was something closer to an obsession for me in those moments at 75mph in the left-hand lane.
It started three lanes to my right, almost imperceptibly. A white Mercedes GLE moved erratically, suddenly shifting right a few feet. Reflexively my driving skills, courtesy of my Dad who was my High School Driver’s Ed teacher, engaged. I began to break even before I could verbalize that a problem was beginning. My mind was still firmly in a COVID-19 place of sourcing N95 masks, gloves and Purell, but catching up rapidly.
Then things got a little more dangerous. The white GLE veered across four lanes of traffic heading for a spot just in front of me. The car and driver, seemingly in a struggle between trying to regain and losing control, lurched and turned erratically. Chaos won, and the car began spinning in a 360 in front of me as I braked aggressively and shifted over a lane praying I had room to do so. Narrowly missing the spinning car by a few feet, my senses were heightened and driving skills were working at maximum capacity.
Within a few more seconds, we were stopped along with all southbound traffic on that stretch of I95, the White GLE on the left shoulder facing the wrong way, and me stopped one lane over about 20 feet away. No one was hurt and amazingly, no car was even damaged. After a few deep breaths, we were all heading in the right direction towards our appointments.
Even though I was completely distracted, my great driving skills (thanks Dad) came through for me. The skills that I had practiced many times were unconsciously triggered and literally saved my life. And, could I have avoided intense discomfort and aggressive braking by being more present in my moments on the road? Absolutely.
Two lessons to share from this near miss:
- Dealing with a huge problem like COVID-19 can be super distracting, bordering on obsessive for me. I now set aside a specific block of time to monitor the news feeds and worry instead of checking throughout the day. For me that’s 30 minutes from 8am-8:30am, and when that 30 minutes is over I do my best to be present.
- You and I have skills that have been honed and practiced over the years, and they are there for us in times of crisis. In my case, driving skills saved me. My leadership, business, comforting my wife or parenting my children skills are just as practiced, and I’m confident they will show up when I need them.
A few questions for you:
- When have you recently been jarred back to moments of clarity?
- What skills do you know that you have and can rely on during this time?
- What new skills are you learning during this crisis?
Interested in your thoughts and experiences. Would love to hear from you, please comment or share. Wishing you safety and health.