Reply To: Review these thoughts from Deborah Tannen. Share your thoughts and comments.

[Whitney Woodard]

I find this discussion interesting now that we are on the “back end” of the COVID-19 pandemic–at least that’s what I hope. When it first started, there was this sense of “no way it’s going to get as bad as they described” and “that only happens in the movies or third world countries, not here.” Of course it did happen here and it happened big. As an ER nurse, it was horrific. I was practicing a kind of nursing that was dangerous and hopeless. And I’ll be honest, I never want to do it again. I won’t do it again (unpopular opinion I’m sure). But there were some interesting things in the way of education and communication that emerged. I found I really enjoyed distance learning and zoom meetings. They allowed me opportunities to be more present and connected with my family instead of sitting in traffic and going to in person meetings. I did not realize how much of my life was spent doing that! I did not miss the human interaction as I was faced with so much of it at work. So it’s possible that was my blessing and curse? I don’t know. But I do know that incorporating certain aspects of online learning and teleworking for meeting was extremely beneficial for my mental health.