Returning better than I left
At the time of writing this post, the world is going through the worst pandemic of the latest century. However, COVID-19 is not either the deadliest pandemic in human history nor the longest lasting one. The Black Death took away 200 million lives from this earth, and the Antonine Plague lasted 15 years, something that would be almost unimaginable for us today.
Despite the latest technology innovations and the advanced health care systems, the world wasn't ready for a pandemic. Not only because of infrastructure and organizational aspects, but for mental health reasons. The pandemic struck in a time when anxiety became the society's prevailing condition, an issue that was far from being solved.
I was no different. I wasn't mentally prepared for a pandemic that would affect the entire world, a lockdown that would radically change the way we live, and all that that implies. At the beginning I thought I was handling the situation nicely, but soon enough I started feeling anxious. I had stopped watching news 5 years before the pandemic started, but a few weeks passed and I was constantly reading news, checking the death rate evolution and the number of new cases across different countries.
At some point of the lockdown I stumbled across this video from a podcaster that I follow, and it changed my perspective about how to live under these new circumstances:
The 'Return better than you left' mission inspired me and I took it as a challenge. It offered me a brand new perspective and made me realize that when things would go back to normal there would be two possible outcomes:
Having done the best that I could or
Having wasted a portion of my life.
I decided that it was worth trying, and started applying all the concepts described in the video, plus looking for ways to stay creative.
Here are the things that I did during the COVID-19 pandemic:
1 - I created this website
I had been wanting to have a portfolio website for 2 years before the pandemic began, but I always found a good excuse to postpone it. Working at home during the pandemic left me with a lot of free time, and I took it as an opportunity.
My main motivation was to create a personal space where to introduce myself, connect with other designers and show my love for digital products in a meaningful way.
As Tobias Van Schneider beautifully stated on 'A love letter to my website':
“Having my own website says I care about what I do beyond clocking in and out and cashing a paycheck.”
2 - I wrote 2 case studies
Something that was clear to me is that I didn't want to have the purely visual type of portfolio, full of jaw-dropping designs and lacking all the reasoning that led to those solutions. However, I had completely underestimated the art of long-form writing. In a day-to-day basis, my writing exercises consist of UX copy, Jira ticket descriptions and design documentation, which rarely exceeds 1000 words.
Writing case studies was a humbling exercise. It helped me improve my writing skills and made me realize that I needed to document more of my design process. In a normal day of work, I would use sketches, sticky notes and a whiteboard to bring ideas to life, but I get so caught up on my work routine that I forget to document the process itself. It was frustrating writing case studies and not being able to demonstrate that there is indeed a part that occurs off screen in my design process.
3 - I completed 4 online courses
I figured out that if I wanted to return better than I left, giving more love to my IDF (Interaction Design Foundation) subscription was a better idea than binge-watching YouTube or Netflix. I became more serious about learning and completed four courses in less time that I would have been able to do prior to the pandemic.
4 - I started reading a book that I had been putting off for a while
At this point, admiring Steve Jobs is a boring cliché among designers, but I truly wanted to learn more about the genius that was behind the products that I have been using and enjoying for a decade. I have watched 3 different movies about Steve Jobs, and always felt like there had to be more than what they portrayed. I am aware of what a bad husband, father and boss he was during early stages of his life, and although I don’t share some of his values, I cannot help but admire his creative side.
5 - I discovered Stoicism and started learning about it
As with minimalism, I had heard about Stoicism before (I even studied it back in high school) but it never called my attention. It was during the pandemic that I heard about some Stoicism principles in a podcast (which piqued my curiosity) and thus the digging began.
Many ideas resonated with me and others challenged some of my points of view. It opened an entire new concept to explore, and I was fascinated. I started listening to the Daily Stoic podcast, followed a couple of Stoicism blogs and started reading the book 'How to Think Like a Roman Emperor', by Donald Robertson.
6 - I started this ‘blog’
Continuing with the Stoic philosophy, there is a famous quote by Seneca that says: “While we teach, we learn”. In psychology it's known as The Protégé Effect, a phenomenon that explains why teaching or preparing useful information to teach others helps us learn that same information.
Having a blog is a way for me to give back to the design community. Most of what I know is thanks to knowledge available on the internet. It is then fair to share bits of my knowledge so that other people can pick it up and later contribute to this cycle.
7 - I helped and supported my loved ones
It's not healthy to be all about business, and in the middle of a pandemic, paying attention to the people close to you becomes crucial. Sure, maybe I was doing good and staying positive, but those around me were struggling to make sense of the situation. I did regular checks through phone calls, helped them fact-check news, went to see them (when permitted and taking all the recommended precautions) and stayed supportive when necessary.
Better than I left
I don’t mean to make it look as if the lockdown and the entire COVID-19 was a blessing or something good at all. It was a disaster that brought a lot of pain to the world. I acknowledge my privilege of living in a developed country where affording masks and hand sanitizer or having access to a health care system wasn't a problem for me, but I believe we can always learn something or take something positive even from the worst situations.
I wish COVID-19 never happened, but I'm grateful that I managed to leave anxiety behind and focus on what I could control, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The way I tackled the challenge wasn't a mean to feel superior to anyone, but to feel better with myself, distract the mind and make the most out of the options that I had available at the time. Having considered that, I definitely feel like I came back better than I left. Mission accomplished 🚀
