Corona Virus Japanese Style
How I’m benefitting from the COVID 19 lockdown
Shental Rohan (@shentalrohan22) tagged me to answer 12 questions about living in the shadow of COVID 19. Here is my perspective from Tokyo, Japan.
- What have you missed the most during lockdown?
I have really missed the interaction with my colleagues and customers. As a corporate trainer, I spend a lot of my time on-site at our client’s offices. However, at this time that is not possible. Meeting these people regularly helps me to be smarter. Their intelligence rubs off on me. Likewise, discussions with colleagues help me focus on using a variety of communication techniques because we all see things differently. I really miss those talks.
In my experience facilitating virtual training, it is much harder to understand when to adjust communication style to impart novel concepts to our clients’ staffs effectively online. Reading facial expressions in those tiny grids for the purpose of adapting delivery style is definitely an acquired skill that takes hundreds if not thousands of hours of online delivery to develop.
2. What is the best thing about being in lockdown?
If I were to pick one benefit of lockdown, it would have to be the ability to go gung-ho with personal development. In the last 10 weeks, I have published 9 articles (including this one), written a guide for choosing a professional coach, launched a website, and picked up an executive coaching client.
I have learned a lot about productivity and the ability to fight through challenges from these enlightening experiences.
3. What is the worst thing about being in lockdown?
The worst thing about this whole situation has to be the travel restrictions. Despite the low number of infections in Japan (19,000 out of 126 million residents as of this writing), I have still not been able to return to the office and, as a result am only working a couple of days a week, despite the lockdown being lifted. When you consider that during commute time trains usually operate at 250–300% capacity, social distancing is just not possible in morning and evening commutes here in Tokyo.
4. Who would you have liked to host in your home during the lockdown and why?
I met with several friends online and I would have liked to have a home barbecue party with as many friends as possible. Slow roasting meat on the grill and just hanging out enjoying the conversation over a beer or glass of wine while breathing the same air would be pure euphoria.
Even during normal times, that is not possible in Tokyo because of the smallness of people’s homes and the proximity to neighbours. So we opt for a night out in a restaurant instead. Unfortunately, many of my favourite places have shut down due to their inability to generate income for several weeks.
5. What have you discovered about yourself in lockdown?
I’ve discovered that my point of view is one that others want to hear. Through writing on Medium and conversations with friends and colleagues, I have found that my ideas are unique and offer a fresh perspective. That is beneficial to others. That is extremely rewarding.
6. What did you eat (or drink) the most during the lockdown?
I believe my biggest dietary change during this time has been drinking more water while reducing my consumption of bottled beverages and alcohol. I can’t remember a time when I would have said I prefer to drink water. Now, however, that is my drink of choice 90% of the time (coffee, juices, wine and craft beer are my other beverage staples).
One of my acquaintance's Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Paul Kilgore, https://quantitative-health.com, told me that drinking water helps to push all the junk into your digestive track where your body can work to decompose it properly. So beyond its hydrating qualities, water is also a brilliant way to cleanse your system.
7. Apart from sleeping and working, what activities did you undertake the most during the lockdown?
I have really enjoyed listening to music. I fill my entire day with it! I start the day with some classical music from stations I loved back home in the Northern California (KDFC https://www.kdfc.com from San Francisco and KAZU https://www.kazu.org based in Monterrey) My late mornings and early afternoons are usually wall-to-wall jazz either from my library (Pat Metheny is my personal favourite) YouTube or Best Smooth Jazz from London https://bestsmoothjazz.com. Then I round out the day with popular music from the 60s-90s (I think I’m showing my age here). I recently added Metallica, Devo and Primus to my heavy rotation. Then I wind down with reiki healing frequency music at night. It’s a musical buffet!
8. Will you come out of lockdown heavier or lighter?
Spiritually, I will be lighter. If there is one thing I have learned through this whole ordeal is to focus on what we can control and keep a pulse of the things, we can not. Stephen Covey calls these the circles of influence and concern, respectively. This has helped me to stay focused on today. That is really all we have.
Physically, I have put on a few kilos. Actually, that seems good. I feel healthier and more fit than I’ve been in a long time. Now I just have to turn some of that fat into muscle.
9. What resource has helped you the most during the lockdown?
Probably, I have gotten the most out of ZOOM. If not for virtual training and coaching I would still be 100% furloughed. I also started offering online English conversation sessions to a group I taught face to face before the lockdown. That has been a serendipitous experience. The few times I have had technical difficulties, they just kept speaking to each other in English! Going forward, I believe more and more people will be receptive to virtual coaching and personalized online training, which should provide new opportunities.
10. What is your top tip for other people in lockdown right now?
Enjoy being with yourself. I think a lot of us would rather be with anyone else than ourselves. That is one reason we are so busy with social media, video games and consuming online content. However, really getting to know and like yourself will make you a much more confident and complete person when this whole COVID thing is over, and it will end eventually.
This is an exceptional opportunity to focus on connecting to the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of yourself. Sit in quiet from time to time and appreciate the person you are now. Consider how to become the person you want to be and release your past. You can not change that. Understand more deeply the person you are and why you are here now. There is a contribution you can make to improving your world. So be willing to accept that challenge.
11. How has lockdown changed you?
This lockdown has made me more focused than ever on making a difference in the lives of others. I continue to be inspired by how my mentors contribute and know that I can do something similar.
Hayao Miyazaki once said, “Be a producer, not a consumer.” I have always had that idea in the back of my mind. Now I can see the path to achieving that, and I have to keep striving to produce value for the people in my circles. Sharing with as many people as possible the fountain of knowledge that continues to rain down on me.
12. If you were to leave a ‘message in a bottle’ for the future, what would you say?
“Live with blind faith.” There is a reason that we are here now, and it is our challenge to accept that we are the right people to solve these problems.
I think we often think the challenges are too big or that we are not capable of making a difference. However, we are the right people to challenge these problems and to improve the situation(s) not just now but for future generations.
Something inside of you is calling on your skills and abilities to make a difference. It is up to you to hear the call and move forward. It will guide you to success if you just have faith in the process. Later is too late, win the day today.
As is the custom with these posts, below is my Coronacation acronym.
C — Compassion for others. Everyone has issues, take the time to show empathy for others and their plights
O — Optimism — Have optimism that you will come out of this situation better than you went in. Some tenacity will help that to occur.
R — Reach for more skills and abilities. Lockdown is a unique opportunity to develop yourself.
O — Organize. During this time when life has slowed down, get more organized and reduce mental and physical clutter.
N — Nurture relationships. Relationships are the most precious possession you have. Take some time to reach out to those who are or have been important in your life and say hello.
A — Accomplish something every day. You can have only so many days of binge watching TV. Look for ways to accomplish something meaningful daily.
C — Contribute — The world needs more of what you have. Now is not the time for modesty, contribute your skills and abilities.
A — Attitude — As the great Zig Ziglar said, “Your attitude determines your altitude.”
T — Thanks — Express thanks and gratitude for those who have supported you in ways big and small.
I — Inspire — You would be surprised how many people are impacted by you. Take a couple minutes to consider how you can inspire others with your actions.
O — Options — If there is one thing that life gives us, it’s options. Use (or develop) the ability to step back and see the forest through the trees. Then choose your direction rather than letting it be dictated to you.
N — Never give up, you’ll never know how close you are to success until you get there.
Thanks for reading.
I challenge you to answer these questions if you are a writer or ever considered writing, why not write your own Medium story? Tag me in your article so I find your post and I will follow you. I also challenge the following people to write a story about their COVID experiences.
@sarahsusanxy, @jennrosater, @kenoogbo, @terridelcampo, @capslockwritingbah, @sylvialovej, @Rabzmustafa, @maryjowagner, @Igwyncymru78, @jianxublog, @DrJohnRose, @jeannine.dehart, @reneeovertonxy, @kate.novytska, @tran.psych, @mtouchton, @rbhambwani, @kristen.harlow, @nancylisaxy
It would be wonderful to read what you are doing to find success in these opportunistic times.
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