The Great Reminder

I know you’ve heard of “The Great Resignation,” but have you heard of “The Great Reminder”? That’s what I am calling it. It’s the underlying reason (the true reason, I believe) for The Great Resignation. The Great Reminder is not just for general employees. It’s for CEOs, C-suites, partners, business leaders, and entrepreneurs of start-ups.

I believe things happen for us, not to us. Experiencing COVID, working from home, and the Great Resignation has forced ALL of us to be REMINDED of many things: That our time here is limited and valuable. That happiness is actually important and not just an emotion we laugh about as if it is something unattainable in our current situation. That our families need us. That we are emotional human beings and not robots. That we want our lives to have meaning. That we want to be connected to purpose. That we want to feel cared about and have the time and opportunity to care about others. That we may have other interests and passions other than what we have been doing for years, but may not have had the courage to explore them. That being spiritual (whatever that might mean to you) isn’t a fad but rather something we need to connect to. That there is something greater than us guiding us. That this is the one time we have in this particular body on this particular journey, and that we should be living as the truest expression of our highest, inspired selves. These are the things I think all of us have been reminded of.

The question is…. now what?

I have a saying on a metal piece that literally just fell over on my desk as I am typing this (no, I’m not kidding… I love how the universe just guided the rest of my thoughts for this blog. You can’t make this stuff up) that reads, “You are powerful beyond measure.” It’s a line from one of my favorite poems, “Our Greatest Fear” by Marianne Williamson. Every line in this poem is so true and powerful. Another line that is aligned with The Great Reminder is, “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

We are being reminded to let our light shine in all of this. For many, we might have thought that light had gone out, but it never does. It was just dim. I’ve always said one of the reasons I do what I do is to remind people of their greatness. I say remind because deep down our soul knows how powerful we are, but sometimes we just forget. Well, life has happened for us lately, giving us the opportunity to remind ourselves what is truly important in our lives.

So, I say to our business leaders: have you been reminded? Have you provided the time and opportunity for personal growth both in your own life and the life of your team? Have you fostered empathy through your own experiences to make it a part of your culture? Should we start looking at ourselves and at the employee as a WHOLE person? (Because that’s what we all are – whole people.) If as a business leader, life has caused you to be reminded, I pose to you the question again…now what?