Who Thought a Pandemic Could Change Lives for the Better? Rising Above the Pandemic
Personally, this crazy pandemic could not have come at a more critical time in my life. I say that now because I don’t know what’s ahead but, at this juncture, the pandemic was a God-send in my personal life.
I’ve shared this with close friends and of course, my amazing husband, who has lived for nearly 25 years, with a workaholic. I remember growing up with a father who was one and to be honest, the man hung the moon in my eyes and the workaholism actually put another feather in his cap - in my eyes! He loved his work and he gave everything to it - seven days a week…until vacation time. We had THE best vacations and he was present 100% of the time we were all together. We ate dinners late because we all wanted to have dinner with him. When he arrived home in the evenings, we were all so happy to see him, we didn’t care that we ate dinner, then went right to bed! He was the happiest, most positive person I’ve ever known and it was always worth the ‘wait’ to get to see him and spend time with him, limited as it may have been.
Well, the proverbial workaholic apple didn’t fall far from the tree! I truly believe that loving what you do can often lead to workaholism - especially if it’s in your blood. I fell into that addiction many years ago and, for the life of me, could never break myself from it. While I love spending quality time with family and friends and often scheduled it so that I would not over-ride personal appointments with business appointments, my work somehow frequently rose to the top of my priority list.
March 2020 hit and boy, did it hit! We were scheduled to go on vacation on the 14th (of March) and on the 11th, I came down with what the doctors think was COVID-19. We didn’t have testing available just yet outside of the hospitals and they didn’t want me to come into the office or got to the hospital so, we did virtual visits. I took my temperature while listening to their instructions, deep breathed, coughed, showed them close-ups of my eyes, the whole 9-yards of being evaluated virtually. That very first day (that I was symptomatic), I phoned our travel agent and cancelled our upcoming trip - thank goodness for travel insurance! It wouldn’t have mattered, had I attempted to go, I would have caused the entire ship to have to be quarantined during the first 24 hours - so, well worth cancelling regardless.
Anyway, 2 weeks of being sicker than I’ve ever been, was the beginning to my sobering realization that things needed to change. The day my quarantine was up, our city & state went on lockdown! Real estate agents, while we manage and direct the entire team of professionals for our clients, were deemed non-essential, while the rest of our entire team was essential. I had 9 transactions in Escrow and I realized all 9 of them were in jeopardy. That’s a whole other post but, I managed to Close all 9 of them which, was a miracle in and of itself! Wrapping up those transactions and having several new construction buyers was all I had to do for work. It was like slowing from 60 mph to 20 mph - BOOM!
Managing those 9 files each week took less than one of my normal 16-hour days of actual ‘work.’ I talked to all parties at LEAST once a week (clients, lenders and agents on the other side of the transaction) and after my calls, felt a little helpless. What was I to do now? I was stuck at home (to which I was NOT accustomed!) and felt like I should be doing something but, there was nothing to do.
As I shared in the earlier challenge about how we were dealing with the pandemic, I started sharing positive ‘Coronavirus Hacks’ on social media. I got a LOT done around my house - as though I was getting it ready to sell! I organized, had maintenance done (socially distancing, of course) and even glassed in a sunroom for a future sale with additional heated square footage. I hadn’t, in 6 years, spent so much time at home and my house had never been more organized or looked better! Hmm…
When real estate agents were finally deemed ‘essential’ in my city & state, I cautiously returned to showing homes virtually and virtually performing listing consultations. I resumed my personal search for lake homes and, magically, the perfect one fell in my lap. I excitedly showed it to Ray, along with a couple of others that could have also been good fits but, I kept coming back to this one. My dreams of spending free time at the lake could come to fruition…if I could convince my husband that he wanted to move too! We compromised and decided to live in SouthPark during the week and at the lake on the weekends…and, finally, he was excited about owning a lake house.
After about a month of ‘dreading’ owning two homes (really, it was having 2 mortgages!), Ray decided we should live at the lake full-time and sell our SouthPark home. Living full-time at the lake now, I can’t imagine going back to urban living in SouthPark after spending weekends here as we had planned to do.
As much as my home has been in-town most of my adult life, the calm, carefree lifestyle is simply palpable at the lake. Speaking of palpable, our blood pressure has fallen living at the lake too! We are thoroughly enjoying our time together - savoring the sounds, smells and views together. We have made a pact to enjoy the sunset together each evening and our time together has brought us closer than I thought possible. We are spending more and more time AFTER the sun sets, sitting by the fire, watching the lights in the sky, on the lake and just listening, talking…and laughing.
We have always been very close and been blessed with an exceptional relationship but, having given up my workaholism, I feel like I’m on my honeymoon - and it’s lasted 3 months now! I believe that is all because I came to the realization that, while I always ‘said’ family came first, I’m now actually living it.
Had we not gone swiftly spinning into a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, I would never have come to terms with my workaholism. I mean, why would I? I’ve been married almost 25 years and hadn’t come to terms with it before. In fact, I grew up thinking it was such a positive trait, I often proudly proclaimed to be a workaholic! Oh, the irony!
Life throws us curve balls. What we make of those challenges thrown our way, is completely up to us. I’ve had so many ‘hints’ that I needed to make a change but, it took a worldwide pandemic to get me to acknowledge that my work addiction wasn’t quite the positive I thought it was.
#COVIDblessings #OvercomingWorkaholism
A huge thank you to Anna Banana Kruchten CRS, CRS, Broker, Instructor and Carol Williams for hosting a fantastic challenge this month. The entries have been wonderful reads but, this was also great for self-reflection. You ladies ROCK!
© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | RE/MAX Executive | CharlotteBroker@icloud.com | Who Thought a Pandemic Could Change Lives for the Better? Rising Above the Pandemic
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