Image of a flock by Ivan Dostal from Unsplash.

Hi!

First off, I miss you already.

I am very curious about which facet of you this greeting is meeting.

Am I catching you in a moment of optimism sparked from recent contact with the goodness that rises up in our communities amidst adversity or from catching a glimpse of spring’s unfurling?

Or in a moment when you just received a piece of hard-to-swallow news regarding your health or business or feeling sad and disoriented from a lack of safe physical touch?

Where are you finding yourself right now in the oscillation between despair, determination, and discovery that is happening for so many of us multiple times a day?

Over this past week, I have been honored to sit (via phone and through video-chat) with a range of entrepreneurs and leaders across sectors who are in the thick of it. Each has been existing in a perpetual state of vigilance and consideration for how they can remain open or maintain their treasured employees. And each day they have been delivered a new set of guidelines or recommendations (mostly imposed from the outside world, yet some from their own hearts) to which they have to adjust. And they are. Remarkably.

So, what am I seeing to be the key to their resilience so far? Simply put, I think it is their ability to embrace paradox. To hold and work through these two truths at the same time:

This is freaking painful and hard
AND
There lies opportunity for growth in this

We will need to make time and space for both of these truths to be worked through, both in ourselves and those around us. We will need to make time for the hard conversations with employees and for the wait times on the phone lines to get assistance. And we will also need to make space for tuning into the opportunities to create anew. Or to prune back what was maybe growing unruly (in our operations and our financials). Or to step into unchartered terrain of self and venture discovery and then pilot imperfect ideas and incorporate feedback. And to remember that it is an exciting time to explore virtual AND real-world learning (I promise it still exists) for ourselves and our employees so that when we do all reconvene to do good work we arrive with sharper minds, bigger hearts, and shiny tools.

One thing that has emerged for me is the challenge to step deeper into virtual community-building, as well as share my writing and stay aware of who amongst us needs the most support. Yesterday my friend and co-facilitator, Jeffrey Scott, nudged me further into this new landscape when he invited me to help give shape, content, and care to a new Slack Community called ResilientWNC.

(What is Slack? It stands for Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge and is a tool to stay connected.)

Similar to many of you, prior to a week ago, I had no interest in spending any more time than necessary in the virtual world. But Jeffrey knows that I live for a new adventure to emerge on the horizon, so for now, until I can buy my next plane ticket, I will work to let collaboration in this new virtual playground suffice. And we would love-love-love for you to help us to build it. Between the two of us, we have had the chance to facilitate and benefit from the sense of community created through the cohort learning of Foundations, Alpine, Scale-Up and Invested courses offered through Mountain BizWorks . Today we are both missing the connection and support that those in-person entrepreneurial learning experiences offer.

So, in honor of this shared sense of both loss and possibility, here's an invitation to the entrepreneurs and leaders of resilient WNC to join us in this virtual space to see what we can create there. It is to serve as a place where we can form connections, share resources, and explore ideas that springboard us onto a new plateau (and it gives you a place to sift through, land, and share any of the valuable nuggets that are getting buried in your inboxes or feeds).

There is no right or wrong way to navigate and engage. Fly around and swoop in and contribute if, when, and where you feel compelled. Take a Birds Eye Approach. Let's discover how we can all give and receive support during this unique chapter of our entrepreneurial journeys.

Also, for those of you who have attended a Birds Eye retreat in the past or have been planning to join one in the future, I promise to integrate elements of those experiences into this virtual community, sharing ways to restore-reflect-create-connect until we do it again in person.

Essentially, until we can all hug again, and share paint colors and snack platters, I am curious to see how quickly, and well-nourished, this little seed of virtual support could grow.

With mad love and respect for the flock,
Annie

Embracing Paradox During Hard Times