The village where I live is pretty small, in total around 60 men, women and children. The nearest ‘facilities’ are a couple of miles in any direction and so, reliable transport is useful, especially during the winter.
Today, our household of four is still warming up after ten days without power. No electricity, heating, lights, I.T., nothing except for an essential landline telephone service. It’s been tough.
The positive? There were one or two moments. The four of us here were able to keep spirits up by ‘sharing the wear,’ so to speak. We were all kept busy with the fundamentals … most of all we have companionship.
It couldn’t have been so easy for others, those with small children, or living alone, in darkness without any means of reaching out for support.
I/we’ve been lucky that the local public house had a fire going. The food was good and for those with smartphones, ‘information’ came beaming in.
As it happens, the emergency services here eventually ‘pulled the finger’ and set to reinstating power. Before long they reached our patch and even offered to pay the costs each household incurred. There was even a fish and chip van on-site to feed the community, warm the bellies.
Oddly, following the restoration of services, I discovered the legacy these past few days offered me … a different kind of challenge.
I endured one of those ‘duhhh’ moments, a lightbulb realisation … that these past 24 months have been just so extraordinary.
The trials of a recent blackout (during the pandemic) have tested everyone here in Northumberland, combined with the sheer volume of negative reporting, it’s made me sit up and reflect.
What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger …
The tough times have made me think of values. The positive stuff that is so important. Qualification, clarification. Simple support. That’s most of us, right?
We need that stuff.
Any size organisation thrives on positivity. From ground level to rooftops and everyone in-between, feel good is appreciated …
The past few years will go down as a marker, a benchmarking exercise for the levels of resilience shown within our global community.
That’s why I consider myself extremely lucky to regularly access a diverse network of like-minded business owners, those I know well, who I trust. It’s during the tough times when we reach out to our community, we find out who our real allies are.
CharlieKenny.me 