I always think it’s kind of amusing when we think things will be right where we think we left them. I guess for a set of car keys that’s reasonable. But people are always in motion. So the places that we used to go may not exist anymore because the people who brought them to life moved on.
It’s also true that people are more than what we think we see them doing.
4 years ago on March 13, 2020, I moved to Winnipeg to start a new consulting contract. On the way there the air waves were consumed with the onset of COVID 19. We didn’t know if we should stop and turn back or keep going as gas stations shut down along the highway.
I stopped on the highway to take it in. And to think about my next steps . . .
We kept going and on the 16th I started a new life in Winnipeg’s health care system. Three days later I was on my way home to work remotely.
I also learned my retail business, ZÖE, was closed via the media.
The wheels were in motion and day by day, month by month, we as business owners absorbed major losses and the psychological cost on our society as a whole is immeasurable. But I see it and feel it as I am sure you do.
ZÖE is still here, existing, although in a different way than it did before March 13, 2020 because I shifted to online and by appointment shopping Monday to Friday. This allowed me to work a full time job and reduce the store’s overhead so the 80% drop in sales could be survivable. I still work full time remotely in Manitoba and ZÖE is still functioning at 80% less than 2019.
4 years later, I still dream of having what I thought was my worst month before COVID.
I am so grateful to my online community and a very small group of amazing women in Regina who have supported this small fledgling business.
If wishes were pennies . . .
I started down a new road this year because existing isn’t enough. Because time and what we do with it is important.
My hope is that through the Long Goodbye event I see enough of a reason to continue.
All I can do is keep shining the light so that ZÖE can be seen and so that you know she’s still here.
So here I am . . . standing in a field wondering if I should keep going or continue existing.
Happy 4th anniversary to my new beginning.
Lynn