The one thing everyone has in common at the moment is that no one has experienced anything like the current pandemic-related world-wide quarantine. The current situation is so different and so unique that most of us don’t know what to do or how to act. In the 1930’s and 40’s, while in the midst of the Great Depression and then World War II, Americans would gravitate toward the radio for an uplifting “fireside chat” by Franklin Roosevelt. These briefings gave Americans confidence to know that there was a plan in place and to be patient while the plan ran its course. Now, our main source of information / comfort / discomfort is the internet, or more specifically, social media. That’s progress?

We’re bombarded each and every day with briefings, articles, quotes, memes and videos, many produced in someone’s kitchen. Much of the disseminated information is either biased, misleading or completely false. Full disclosure; I’ve produced a couple of those “kitchen videos” too, but I’ve done my best to keep the information benign and unbiased. Still, I worry about what people are thinking these days and how that might impact our already uncertain future. Regardless of age, most of us are a bit anxious about what lies ahead and, in order to better prepare, I’ve considered a few things which are important to me:

Expertise matters: In a time where far too many are posing as “experts”, it is vitally important that one’s level of expertise matches their rhetoric. Simply by having a platform to share ideas from such as a radio show, social media account, or a blog, does not necessarily mean the information is factual. Who are we supposed to believe? What qualifies them to even make statements related to the situation? Albert Einstein once said, “Incompetence is the true crisis”. Where’s Einstein when you really need him?

Big events cause big change: If you’ve ever ridden a bike and felt a tire begin to go flat, you know it’s an ominous feeling. The bike is still rolling along, but you know it’s not going very far. Today’s economy has all of that vibe and it’s not very reassuring to wonder what the future might bring. It’s safe to say that things will look much differently a year from now. We hope for the best, but it’s also safe to say that we should prepare for some rough waters. Good-paying jobs might be scarce in the months ahead, therefore a mindset that is open to change might be something to work on. Actually, this might be the best time ever to start a home-based business and see where it might lead.  We certainly have some time on our hands at the moment to research it, at the very least.

Clean it up: Manufacturers of soap and sanitizing products are doing their best to keep everyone supplied with products to satisfy our newly-found (or hopefully reinforced) need to wash our hands and clean the place up. Maybe a silver lining to this cloud we’re under will be that, as a society, we’ll start to work a little harder to not only keep ourselves cleaner, but take a bit more care when it comes to tossing that trash bag out of the car window. Throwing garbage on the ground can’t be a good thing when it comes to the propagation of germs.

Well there you have it…my two cents. Maybe that’s exactly what it’s worth, but there’s no charge to read it.