STAY CONNECTED

Stay Connected
By: Anthony Mikatarian

It's no secret that friendships and good work chemistry with your fellow co-workers improve both your personal and career gratification, as well as your co-workers own gratification. Positive relationships, especially with loved ones and friends, guide you to self assurance while presenting your best self in both your personal and work environment.

However, these ever so important relationships are being tested in the midst of this unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. This is why working hard to maintain positive family, friend and work associate relationships have never been so imperative to our overall positive mental and physical contentedness. With all the restrictions being placed upon us by the government on your employment, general businesses and people’s own personal beliefs has made it quite difficult to maintain personal relationships outside of your immediate family circle during this pandemic. For some, even the natural fear of contracting the virus is altering their thinking. What you had done in the past to maintain these relationships has to be tweaked during this trying time.

This is particularly true with our unique profession because many departments have been working on an altered and abbreviated set rotating schedule to combat this pandemic such as reducing the normal on duty staff and squad counts to nearly half, with the other half at home on standby. This is tough on work personal relationships. However, with this pandemic this emergent decision is a necessity to reduce the chances of your agency being overwhelmed with illness, hence, putting your agency out of service.

With this abbreviated work schedule and the work restrictions, you will not see many of your co-workers for weeks at a time. This is partially okay if you are shift set with a co-worker(s) you enjoy, but it is also socially challenging with the limited physical contact you have between each other. If you happen to be set with an officer(s) you are sour to, it probably will be even more socially challenging during your shift. However, either way you will still feel out of place or saddened by not working with others you enjoy working with and the norm of full staffing, who are now on the opposite of your work cycle. You may not see them for weeks. This can damper your work spirits, especially if working in a smaller agency. You need to find ways to ward off loneliness, stress, roadblocks and boredom. You need to find creative ways to elevate your work comradeship in lieu of this pandemic, social distancing and sheltering in place.

Since this pandemic arrived, it has put many things into perspective, such as gaining improvement in communicating with our personal relationships. I have realized that during our pre-pandemic hectic work and life schedules, we at some point developed inadequate socializing time, as well as some falling victim at times to mixed priorities. Many of our social communications have been text messages, quips and social media interactions. Social non-work related phone conversations are rare. With this eye opening pandemic and more free time on our hands to reflect, you realize these forms of communication are usually lacking in substance. This pandemic era is the perfect opportunity to re-evaluate our mindsets, personal relationships and our forms of communication. We need to develop socially with the people we care about by presenting them with more personal, sincere and deeper context. Just communicating in an impersonal electronic fashion does not nourish our or their souls. With our usual busy lives temporarily halted and now having more time, it's the perfect opportunity to verbally open up about yourself and your valued relationship with that person you are communicating with as well as you feeling it in return.

I personally had a fulfilling phone conversation with a great lifelong friend the other day, which has been a rare occurrence because of our hectic lives. Most of our interactions prior to this were electronic. We not only reminisced, but got to talk about a lot of personal and random things. It was a rewarding conversation that not only reminded us of the blessed friendship we have but a conversation like this nourishes it to continue. So pick up the phone to call your families, friends and work friends. If you are prevented from phone conversations, you should make a necessary effort to send regular and sincere electric communications to let them know you are thinking of them and praying for them and their family’s wellness. It goes a long way and lets them know that you truly care. You take the initiative. Don't wait for your administration or colleagues to reach out to you or encourage this behavior. If you get mocked for taking this initiative, those are the people who don't deserve your attention anyway.

This is something you can initiate from the comfort of your home. Plus, I learned to just be real and drive a straight line, not dance around something or being embarrassed to divulge your feelings to a person in your social circle. Especially with the many added daily challenges living life during this pandemic your positive work and personal relationships will appreciate this general approach because you are real. Let your positive social and work relationships know that you are delighted to give and receive support, especially to help each other get through this dark time. Also, this is a time to really emphasis our sincere listening skills because of the added stresses and unknowns we are feeling. Living in this pandemic people need to, at times, vent or express themselves. Upon listening, we need to truly show affirmation and compassion back to them. Reaffirm that we are in this together and will get through this together.

The crisis established by this pandemic make positive social relationship’s more important than ever in helping us build and maintain all our emotional well-beings. No matter where you are in life or what you are going through positive social relationships will help you both professionally and personally. Bonding and being real will only benefit you in the long run to recognizing who is real or fake in your own life. With our faith in God along with our resilience we will surround ourselves with relationships that will help us be at our best. When this time of social distancing becomes a welcomed memory, I pray that we as human beings remember this time of isolation. I hope everyone develops a new appreciation on how delicate life is and the true value of our loyal social relationships because fellowship is vital for human existence. As these interesting and scary days continue, let's really remind our loved ones, our dear friends and our acquaintances how appreciated they really are! God bless and wellness to all.