Event Director/Mum of 2; Life in a Pandemic

Life is a rollercoaster.  We can get through this together.  Always someone worse off than yourself.  Try to stay positive.  We will bounce back. Etc. Etc. Etc.

All clichéd mantras running through our heads on repeat.  Anything to help get ourselves through this funny old world we are living in at the moment.

I never thought in my lifetime that I would be living through a global pandemic that would mean I cannot see my friends, hug my parents or travel around the world with ease as I did before.

Being an Event Director at an event management agency which runs national and international events during this pandemic is a strange and unsettling feeling.  No more, finally seeing the faces of delegates whose names you have been staring at on a spreadsheet for months.  No more, finally meeting the hotel contact who has responded to your every weird and wonderful request with a joyful ‘yes of course!’. No more, feelings of satisfaction as you see all your plans come to life.  No more, meeting amazing and interesting people from around the world.  No more breakfast buffets!  Most importantly for a Mum of two young children no more hotel rooms to yourself for a quiet night’s sleep!

I am being slightly flippant, but the truth is we are all anxious and worried for the future.  Whilst trying hard to stay positive and continuing to talk to each other about how we are feeling.  We all need to know that as we sit at our desks in our own homes filing and working on virtual events, feeling isolated, we are not alone.  There is a whole world of event professionals out there doing everything they can to keep our industry going until a time when we can be together again.  The Fuse family will be ok. But we are aware that so many in our industry, especially the army of freelance workers across the sector, have and continue to bear the brunt of what this year has brought about. As a small team we’re also bowled over by the amazing work and solidarity shown by our industry and the wider Social Enterprise sector in providing support for key workers, food for struggling families and support to those most in need.

On top of the strange feeling of working but not working, each of us at Fuse has our very different home set-ups to deal with as well.  I already worked from home, so no adaption needed there but I didn’t normally have 2 kids and a husband home too, nor did I need to be home schooling while doing that work!  That was a challenge that I am not in a rush to repeat!  Yet within the dark days of performing an impossible juggling act, there were also days of joy, cycling on the downs, swimming in the sea, finally getting my 7 year old to write a story, hearing my 5 year old reading and knowing I was there to support her.  I feel very lucky to live by the sea with plenty of fresh air and open spaces and if my hardest days are when I am seeing a little too much of my immediate family, I can cope with that for now.  There are a lot more people out there going through so much more.

We know we will all be back and the industry might be changed but it will be bigger and better than before.  In the meantime, I shall continue to serve 5 different kinds of eggs, pancakes, cereal, viennoiserie and a choice of juice for breakfast every morning just so I don’t get out of practice!

Stay safe everyone.  See you on the other side.

P.S if you’re in the sector and need mental health support please do check out EventWell

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