{"id":11962,"date":"2020-12-14T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passodue.flywheelsites.com\/?p=11962"},"modified":"2021-01-11T15:32:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T14:32:39","slug":"the-time-we-got-angry-with-santa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diariodiunconsulente.it\/en\/2020\/12\/14\/the-time-we-got-angry-with-santa\/","title":{"rendered":"The time we got angry with Santa"},"content":{"rendered":"

by the Passodue<\/a> team<\/span><\/p>\n

It has now become a tradition that the last article of the year<\/strong> in this blog is dedicated to the holiday<\/strong> season and is a sort of occasion to take stock of the year gone by. Looking back at the posts<\/strong> from the last few years <\/strong><\/a>it feels like ages since the past cheerful and carefree Christmases. This article will be different, exactly as all of 2020<\/strong> has dramatically been, bringing incomprehensible and even unwanted changes. That\u2019s why in today\u2019s reflection we have something to say to Santa Claus<\/strong><\/span>: we want to ask him why he decided to take us by surprise with unwanted \u201cgifts\u201d and will try to find the deep meaning that these \u201cgifts\u201d carry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Alberto<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n

For the first time, the year had started with a precise planning<\/strong> of all Passodue activities. In a business like ours it is essential to properly allocate the training and consullting hours, in order to ensure constant cash flows and to optimize the time<\/strong>. We were off to a great start with a solidly growing turnover when\u2026 the lockdown<\/strong> started and one of my worst professional nightmares<\/strong> came true. All of my plans were changing for reasons beyond my control!<\/span> I have never liked surprises<\/strong>, let alone negative ones, especially since flexibility<\/strong> and ability to improvise<\/strong> have never been my best qualities. In that moment I even wondered if, in a market which was inevitably focused on surviving, business ethics <\/strong>would be relegated to a marginal role again, putting our jobs at risk. For someone like me, who struggled to find his way<\/strong>, such a sudden and unexpected change was just too much and, as happens to me in difficult times, my rigidity<\/strong> initially took over and made me refuse the switch to online training. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I have to give credit to one of our biggest customers for requiring us to reschedule all the activities in webinar mode. Thanks to their decision I discovered not only that it was possible to work online and still maintain the quality, but also that adapting<\/strong> would allow us to continue the dialogue with the many people who needed our support<\/span>. Since then our business has taken off again and we keep moving towards our highest goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I got from Santa Claus <\/strong>this 2020 is the unwanted gift of watching my plans and certainties fall apart<\/strong>. However I have learnt a lesson and I have gained a new awareness<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

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the first one is that I need to be rigid about my goals but have to be flexible on how to achieve them; the second one is that I am capable of accepting changes<\/strong> when I manage to find within myself the confidence to look up to new horizons.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\"\"<\/h2>\n

Serena <\/span><\/h2>\n

I will always remember 2020 as the year of distance, of closures, of missed business trips, of disrupted plans and messed up diaries, of remote working and virtual meetings<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first all of this felt like a catastrophe. I told myself, \u201cThis is happening to me, someone who loves the contact with people<\/strong> and the exchange<\/strong> that takes place in meetings. Someone who is not meant for technology, who avoids social networks<\/em> and considers them as parallel worlds she doesn\u2019t belong to. Yet here I am, every day in front of my computer to meet students, colleagues, friends, and even my children. How crazy!\u201d. It took me a few weeks to open up to the possibility that electronic devices and their programs were not living aliens beyond my control, but that I could learn how they worked if I stopped thinking \u201cit\u2019s not really my thing\u201d.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that this bizarre year is coming to an end, I realize I have understood so many things<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have learnt that sometimes distance is necessary<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>to observe<\/strong> the quality of our relationships<\/strong> with people more clearly. I have learnt that technology isn\u2019t just for those who are\u00a0 genetically inclined to it, but that it can become a tool to access new modes of communication<\/strong><\/span>. I have learnt that it\u2019s better to pencil in things in my diary because plans can change<\/strong><\/span>, and\u00a0 that meeting people through a screen can increase the level of attention<\/strong>: by observing every expression on the faces on the screen, by listening<\/strong> in an incredibly intense way for the fear of missing a single word, by waiting before talking so microphones don\u2019t overlap.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I have realized that nothing can be taken for granted<\/strong>, and that our daily routine can be continuously reinvented giving dignity to every little detail<\/strong>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Thank you Santa<\/strong> for giving me a new perspective<\/strong>: what was once normal has now become special.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Luca <\/span><\/h2>\n

I spent the last ten years struggling to eventually manage to devote myself full-time to the job I love<\/strong>: teaching and accompanying people on their journey towards self-realization. I told myself, \u201cFinally 2020 is the year!\u201d. Everything was going well: I was excited about starting to cooperate with Passodue<\/strong> on a permanent basis and I felt confident of myself because I had acquired intellectual and emotional maturity<\/strong> to support my business. On 28th February 2020 I finally left my previous job, ready to start my new adventure <\/strong><\/a>and\u2026the following week the lockdown <\/strong>started. There I was, immediately catapulted into the harsh reality of freelancers <\/strong>with very few safeguards<\/strong> and even fewer certainties<\/strong>. I didn\u2019t know if or when I would be able to go back to teaching<\/span>, I had left a very secure job with a fixed salary <\/strong>and I had to cover the costs of a renovation… all of it with a baby daughter! Wow, the situation really seemed destined to sink, that really was an unpleasant gift. However, if I go back to the first lines I wrote at the beginning of this paragraph, I realize they talk about a dream<\/strong><\/span>. And that\u2019s where I restarted from!<\/span><\/p>\n

This year I have received the recipe for staying on course towards the realization of a project<\/strong>, and it can be summarized as follows<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n