Are you ready to experience some progressive pandemic growth syndrome? Progressive pandemic growth syndrome is a phrase that represents the ability to strive for favorable solutions when outcomes are uncertain. To start, think back on the last 120 days.
- How is your business?
- How is your health?
- Have your relationships changed?
Hold your answers to those questions for a bit. You may want to review them after listening to Silly Chilly Hot Sauce’s founder, Sufia Hossain, in any one of the eight short video clips available below.
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice.
Maybe I have had one too many cocktails since mid-March, but I have been noticing a lot of positive growth potential in the midst of the Great Pandemic Pause. Do I see, read and hear the preponderance of heartbreaking, devastating and potentially, irreconcilable consequences of this point in our existence. Yes, I do. I can recite any one of a thousand terrible things. And at that point I know I have a choice on where to put my focus and so do you.
Note before you continue: If you are feeling distressed and overwhelmed, please watch this TED founder, Chris Anderson with author Elizabeth Gilbert.
I digressed. Back to my post.
It certainly helps that I have a livelihood that requires me to focus on the potential for improvement. It certainly helps that I have had the opportunity to record some interviews with my Hey, Boss Lady co-host, Kristi Atwater, with outstanding women facing down this period of time with courage and resilience. It certainly helps that I hold Desert Storm POW, Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum in my mind when I begin to wonder if it is possible to overcome unspeakable adversity and its resulting trauma. Not only did she find a way to thrive after suffering everything from capture to rape and broken body parts, and Brigadier General Cornum spearheaded the positive psychology research on Posttraumatic Growth beginning in 2008. For me, Cornum wrote the book on what is possible to overcome.
Progressive Pandemic Growth Syndrome
It was with Cornum in mind that I thought about the phrase ‘progressive pandemic growth syndrome’. For me, that phrase represents the ability to strive for favorable solutions when outcomes are uncertain. There is no research on this. I just made it up. However, it is fair to say that we have all become lab rats in a global pandemic where every outcome from the spread of the disease to its severity to the economic impact, are uncertain.
So that is where Sufia Hossain and her Silly Chilly Hot Sauce comes in. As a first-generation Bangladeshi immigrant, she left the career of her education and training to follow an inspired dream. That was 4 years ago. Four months ago, along with the entire world, everything changed again. Listen to what happened with Silly Chilly’s marketing ability vanished – make sure you listen to the 1:16 point!
I am featuring one of the segments of our chat, but urge you to watch them all. You will learn what it means to bring so many of the topics I have written about to life in an actual business. Here is just a sampling:
The impact of meditation on business and life, there is a segment on that.
The impact of dreaming big, there is a segment on that.
The impact of spirituality and business, there is a segment on that.
The impact of giving without expectation, there is a segment on that.
Stay safe, make good choices, and know that although everything is uncertain you can be certain this too shall pass.
