Ushering In An Era Of Adaptability
For many of us, 2020 was a year defined by change and challenge.
A year ago, almost to the day, I lost my mother. She had experienced a brain injury in 2018 and from then on bravely battled a series of hospitalizations. For those 18 months, I prioritized family and traveled back and forth to the UK to be with her. Looking back, I’m immensely grateful for that gift of time we had together.
I’m also grateful for the great resilience she demonstrated in testing times. Her determination, focus, and optimism pulled her through and gave us an additional year of her life. Despite the challenges, she exuded warmth and compassion, which my family and I will never forget.
Not long after my mother passed, the global COVID-19 pandemic brought the whole world to a standstill. Everyone had to learn to adapt to a new way of living and working. According to mental health research, people are feeling more overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious than ever before.
How we approach these challenges as they arise matters greatly. We can't control or predict what will happen, such as losing a loved one or a public health crisis, but we can influence and change our mindset to deal with uncertainty in a positive way. We can also learn to accept what is happening around us, so we make conscious choices to influence the world we live in.
I’m proud that Ignition provides resilience training that allows people and organizations to manage these changes.
Training Resilience At Scale
We never could have predicted a global pandemic would be the catalyst that would make people realize what really matters in life such as health, wellness, and a sense of purpose—the key areas our coaching programs are tailored to support.
Suddenly, there was a newfound awareness and need for our work. To ensure our resilience tools could be as accessible as possible to help people through this significant shift, we adapted our offerings and quickly turned our attention to launching a new online Academy featuring resilience and mindfulness programs framed around our WAVE™ methodology. We now offer three programs developed to support individuals to deal with the stress, anxiety and uncertainty.
The online resilience programs are a perfect complement to our corporate coaching, executive leadership, and organizational resilience services, ensuring we can offer scalable training to organizations who are looking for better ways to support and engage their employees and fortify their leaders.
We are proud to work with a wonderful portfolio of clients who are making a huge difference in the world. From developing treatments for COVID-19, creating clean energy, addressing animal cruelty, to offering affordable housing. We believe by supporting our clients, we can make a small difference too.
Our Hope for The Future
Though we continue to face difficulty, this new year is filled with hope. In 2021, we are ready to help you look inwards to find deeper meaning in life. We see a future where people learn to disconnect from technology, look for the best in others, and reach out to help those in need.
I believe that the 2020's will be remembered as the decade of finding purpose and meaning through mindfulness. Just like we prioritize exercise for our physical wellbeing, meditating and other resilience practices will be a daily habit for our mental wellbeing. Ignition will continue to raise awareness and help teach the necessary skills to manage stress, find greater meaning, build empathy and compassion, and ultimately work towards creating a more connected and peaceful world.
As I reflect on the challenges we are up against, I can’t help but think of my mother. She is my inspiration to help others learn the skills she so keenly demonstrated in her last year. She taught us that we must approach hardship with patience, kindness, and compassion. I believe the work we are doing with Ignition is her legacy and I thank all of you for being a part of it.