All Will Be Well
By: Rachel Formaro, Co-CEO, Collabry
Finding a sense of calm may feel like a tall order. Especially for those of us juggling multiple roles—worker, leader, caretaker, volunteer, household manager, laundry-doer, family appointment scheduler, home meal provider (the list goes on and on). And that’s before you add in the macro stressors easily supplied by the daily news.
How do we maintain a sense of calm amidst the seeming chaos of everyday life? How do we find the stillness to be creative, innovative, and thoughtful? There are some days when I think calm is a privilege—something only for folks who are at leisure. More recently, I’ve been thinking of it as a form of service or activism, similar to the idea of compassion for oneself and others being a radical act in our time.
It has taken me years of study and meditation to realize that my sense of calm is in my control (and goodness knows I have not mastered this!). Instead of looking at my phone while eating breakfast solo, I can just breathe, focus on my yogurt, and let my mind wander. I can block out work time on my calendar weeks in advance to balance the demands of meetings. Before each meeting, I can take a few slow and deep breaths. These simple actions can help regulate the nervous system and the flow of chemicals in the body.
“There are some days when I think calm is a privilege—something only for folks who are at leisure. More recently, I’ve been thinking of it as a form of service or activism.”
I can also not do any of those things and instead let chaos take the lead. Mindfulness is a choice.
Of course, these are not new ideas. Mindfulness has been written about extensively, and there are thousands of books on the subject, not to mention apps and courses.
But how does calm tie into the consultant path? It’s not as big a leap as one might think. For the consultant, being able to focus on a single client project has some calmness built in to it. For the client, being able to hand off a project to a trusted and skilled partner also provides some calm. I’ve witnessed a client take a number of deep breaths during a call and realize that, indeed, it is all going to be okay.
My dad, Paul, always said in times of stress, “All will be well.” Whether he said it to me during peaks of my anxiety disorder in my youth—or much later, when he was battling cancer and wanted to assure me, my mum, and my sisters that we were all going to get through this—those four small words helped me recenter and recalibrate. Though my dad is no longer with us, his words endure when I say them to myself, my family, and others.
“For the consultant, being able to focus on a single client project has some calmness built in to it. For the client, being able to hand off a project to a trusted and skilled partner also provides some calm.”
Cultivating calm can lead to better outcomes. It’s much more effective to get through a challenging task (or day) by putting one foot calmly in front of the other, rather than spiraling. Is it easy to have that as your first response? Well, let’s just say it takes practice. And maybe a bit of trust that all will be well.