Actually, I AM busy
I was at the grocery store the other day and heard someone talking about a new podcast — saying how excited they were to have something to do because being home was so boring.
Most every day, I wake up to tons of emails telling me about podcasts, sales, articles, home exercise options, and stories that I absolutely MUST read. I so appreciate being made aware of these things, but it definitely feels like there’s an assumption out there that I must be sitting home doing nothing.
Boring? Nothing to do? I can’t relate. For just about everyone I know, we’re busier than ever. Check out this Bloomberg article, written way back at the beginning of Covid, in April…
For those of us with kids doing school from home, everything in the house is different — timing, child care, meals, etc. The structure we were used to no longer exists, and the constant concern about everyone’s health (with the inability for the kids to “go out and play”) is an extra piece of each day that wasn’t there before the pandemic.
If we work from home (whatever type of work that may be), the stress of trying to work with kids in the house is a constant challenge, and the stress of worrying about friends and loved ones — and our community and world in general — has an ongoing impact on our psyches.
With all the pain and suffering going on in our communities, we want to help any way we can, but we’re trying to take care of our immediate and extended families, and that generally has to trump everything else.
So please don’t assume that we have more time on our hands now because of Covid.
The interesting thing about this disconnect between what a fundraiser thinks I’m doing and what my life is actually like only reinforces the need for fundraisers to have real, authentic relationships with their donors. If the relationship is genuine, then the fundraiser would immediately know that I, for example, do not have more time available because of Covid. The fundraiser would recall that I have school-age children at home, that my husband and I are likely both working from home, that my elderly mother in assisted living is probably of great concern, and that I’m probably worried about my older kids’ well-being, too.
I would love it if the fundraisers who are soliciting me actually thought about me as a person for a second or two, and then imagined what my life was likely like during Covid. With that information, the fundraiser would be able to solicit me with some realistic context, as opposed to assuming that I had tons of available time. I’m certain that those pitches would be more successful.
Don’t they say that “timing is everything”?
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- Lisa