Mike and I had decided that I would “retire” from work on April 16, 2020. I remember how we chose that date. We had been thinking about it for a while, but Mike just said I think April 16th would be a good day. Early in March, I gave my notice of my coming departure.
We had been hearing about COVID for months in the news in Asia and then in Europe as it spread across the globe. But suddenly, it was here, in our neighborhood and families. I remember very clearly, on March 16th 2020, we were told to go home and stay home and only venture out when it was essential. We would all be working remotely, because of COVID-19. All events and activities and gatherings were cancelled or indefinitely postponed, because of COVID-19. Church was cancelled, because of COVID-19. Most distressing was that the Temples were closed for almost one year, because of COVID-19. At that time, I thought, maybe in two months things will get back to normal. Little did any of us know that two and a half years later, we would still be dealing with this Pandemic on a global scale.
With a global pandemic and lock down going on, it just did not seem like a good time to make a major life change because 1) the stock market dropped fairly substantially, 2) where would we go, travel was being restricted, and 3) major world crises are not times to make major changes in life. So we decided that I had better keep working and we should stay in Salt Lake in our beautiful condo. So, I wasn’t leaving FamilySearch. Graciously my boss let me retract my notice of departure. They were happy to have me stay.
I was feeling pretty down about our plans being interrupted and feeling a bit upset. I was also feeling like–I’m never going to get to leave FamilySearch. I had wanted to on and off for years, but it had never felt right. Now I had thought the timing was right this time and again my plan to leave was not going to be realized.
Two days after going into lock down, Salt Lake area experienced a 5.7 earthquake. It was just after 7 am and I was just getting out of bed when it hit. It was the first major earthquake I have ever experienced, and it was thrilling and terrifying all in one. We lived in a high rise condominium in downtown Salt Lake City and our building was swaying. We experienced several strong aftershocks after the initial quake. This along with the Pandemic had me thinking the “last days” were here.
I remember thinking, “you selfish prick.” I started thinking about the fact that I was safe and sound in my condo, it was a beautiful condo. I had a great job (many people had lost their jobs at this point with the lock downs). I had food, shelter and the necessities and many luxuries of life. I had a wonderful husband who loved me and I had the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought to myself, “how dare you be upset that you are not retiring early. That is seriously selfish. So many people in the world are a whole lot worse off than you are. They don’t have jobs. They don’t have shelter. They don’t have food. They are sick and dying. You are incredibly blessed.”
Also, when you can’t go out and do much of anything and are locked down, you start to appreciate your freedom and the things you can’t do–the things you take for granted ever day. During the early part of the lock down, a friend of mine at work came up with a great game for us all. She gave us a different challenge each day to get outside and see nature. For example, one day we had to take a picture of a bird and another day of something just starting to grow. She was amazing to get us all doing something positive together. I missed being in the office with people and interacting with people. I had worked remotely for many years, but I didn’t really like doing it all the time, all day long. I got screen fatigue, but we could still work and still see each other all the time through the miracle of technology. That leads me to the first way I changed–I became more appreciative and grateful for things I take for granted everyday.
At work, I shifted my focus to transforming learning as an initiative. Little did I know that the pandemic would accelerate that initiative well beyond anything we could and would have done without the pandemic. Because of the pandemic, we were forced to make Rootstech (a conference sponsored by FamilySearch which had been held in-person in Salt Lake and London) into a virtual conference and by so doing, we transformed learning in the genealogical industry in a matter of months, not years. Prior to this, the standard for learning in the genealogy industry was hour long lectures using slide decks at conference. We transformed it to online, on-demand, less than 20 minute videos. That was a major shift and the pandemic forced the industry to accept the change without too much grumbling. The second way I have changed–I completely understand that adversity accelerates innovation and change.
I had always believed that miracles happened. But as I experienced the process of building a platform to host a virtual conference, getting classes in 40 languages from all over the world and processing and publishing over 2500 videos, all in less that 6 months, I came to not believe, but KNOW with absolute certainty that miracles happen. The third way I have changed–I know I can ask for miracles and God will answer my prayer and when we are on God’s errand, we can not fail and with God nothing is impossible and God can do his own work but He kindly has us participate so we grow. Basically–God is real and He is always active in our lives.
I also learned another truth about the nature of being part of a miracle. In the midst of a miracle, there is an interesting dichotomy. On the one hand it is miraculous and glorious, but on the other hand–IT IS SERIOUSLY DIFFICULT. There is nothing easy about being part of a miracle, but I would never have wanted to miss that experience. It was incredible. The fourth way I changed–I knew I needed to write about the miracles I had experienced, so I needed to become an author and write a book about it. (coming soon)
As I watched the world go crazy, I would often think about how difficult situations bring out the worst in some people and the best in other people. I thought a lot about why that is and which type of person am I. I recently read several books that are the stories of those who were interred in Auschwitz during World War II. It struck me that in arguably the most adverse and horrific circumstance human beings have had to endure occurred, some people kept their faith and their kindness and others became cruel and lost their faith completely. Some of our world in the pandemic became more divisive and some came together to help each other. I remember the YouTube channel started by John Krasinski called “Some Good News”. He got tired of all the bad news so he created a wonderful channel to share good news. It was uplifting and fabulous. So what makes a person choose to do good or to do bad in times of difficulty. I honestly do not know, but I do know it is a choice and an attitude that you choose. It made me really think about what kind of person I am. Would I chose good or bad in seriously challenging times. I think this is something we should all think about and maybe even decide ahead of time how we would like to behave in difficult circumstances. So I learned that for myself–I hope and believe that I would choose good.
I have to say that the pandemic actually blessed me to learn how to be very good at working remotely. Many of us learned how to do this for the first time or we got better at it. This actually prepared me for my life on the road and being able to work from the road, but more importantly, it moved Mike’s co-workers into the space of remote work and having meetings via Microsoft Teams. This has enabled Mike to continue to contribute and work with his team from our RV. So I would say–We both became better at working remotely.
I have a friend who refers to one of her siblings as, “Doom and Gloom.” The last thing I will capture that I learned during the pandemic was that it doesn’t help anyone or anything to be “Doom and Gloom.” During the hardest parts of the isolation and the hardest parts of getting Rootstech up and running, keeping a positive faith and hope in the future and in God’s choreographing the future, really helped Mike and I maintain positivity and not end up with depression and anxiety and all the mental health issues that were rampant during the pandemic. I heard a young friend refer to “toxic positivity”. I was shocked by that term. I know it is one used out there today, but it is, in my opinion, a device of the adversary. How can positivity ever be toxic. In my experience and especially after watching what happened during the pandemic, positivity is a life line to keep us out of depression and anxiety. Inevitably, if I am feeling down, my mind is dwelling on the negative in my life. When I am dwelling on the positive, no matter what difficulty is happening, I am happy and moving forward. So, I learned to–Check my mental focus and adjust it to stay happy and positive most of the time.
The pandemic changed the world for the better and for the worse. I think the pandemic changed me for the better and brought me closer to God. I’m a better person because of the challenges of the last two and a half years. I appreciate time with family and friends. I am grateful to be able to go outside and move about the country however I choose. I am grateful for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
How did the pandemic change you? Think about it. Are you happy with the change? I challenge you to do some introspection on this point. I believe these types of challenges help us grow. Recognize and be grateful for it and more refinement will come.
