During COVID19, my company was acquired by a larger company. Throughout that process of merging, I relied on my first boss, and now friend and mentor, Kerry.
Kerry has decades of experience in the working world and gladly offers her wisdom and advise through phone conversations whenever I request them.
Recently, with this company change, I had many conversations with Kerry about my job, the job I wanted, and the best ways to go about achieving that. Kerry not only offered me her wisdom from experience, but she also offered me her kindness, curiosity and humor. This made a stressful job situation that much easier to cope with. Ultimately, these conversations helped get me the promotion I was looking for.
As a friend during COVID19, Kerry also helped me out of a stranded car situation after losing the only key to my car. She lent me her car, her time, her humor and an ear to process the days’ events as they unfolded. We laughed at the situation then, and we tell the story now. While an expensive replacement key had to be made in order to start my car, there is no one who could have helped me out quite like Kerry. I will always remember that day and treasure the relationship we share professionally and personally.
Kerry has shown me in the midst of COVID19, that resiliency takes many different forms. Her humor and finding the funny in stressful situations, has been a technique that helped me be more resilient in a time of uncertainty and great stress.
Kerry also reinforced to me how much outside perspective in any individual stressful scenario can help you bounce back after feeling run down or defeated. Her stories relating to both of these professional and personal experiences, helped me to get out the details of the problem and see the bigger picture. This allowed me to see my way through, and come out the other side with a strengthened sense of resiliency.