If you’ve been following the Think Tank of Three podcast for any length of time, you might have noticed that we’ve been quiet lately. We have been feeling the impact of COVID-19 and the unrest around the treatment of people of color.

While we know it’s important to speak up and take action, we also know that we needed time to practice what we preach on our podcast, putting our families, our work, and our communities first.

We pulled back to take a minute to check ourselves, take some time off to process how we feel, and also to get some work done behind the scenes for exciting changes coming to the Think Tank.

And we want to offer this community an explanation as well as share some hope. 

Coping with COVID

The effects of COVID hit everyone a little differently and, frankly, continues to have a huge impact on our lives. We are incredibly grateful that both of us have continued to work through the pandemic. This is not the case for millions of Americans, including some of our close friends and supporters. And tragically, more has been lost than jobs and wages.

Julie’s mConnexions team felt the fatal impact of COVID-19 in mid-March when a team member’s loved one died from the novel Coronavirus.

As a fierce advocate in the fight against Alzheimer’s, many of Julie’s fellow Alzheimer’s Association Board Members in Michigan were on the front lines, some falling ill and becoming hospitalized as they cared for positive patients in their nursing homes.

“For us, some of those early weeks were spent on the phone and social media, working our connections to help friends secure PPE. They were using trash bags for gowns, just to keep caring for patients. It was honestly pretty scary — and I wasn’t even on the inside.”

Work also became a blur. It has been a whirlwind, helping clients make big business decisions and adjusting their marketing messages, while also managing my own business. I’m still not quite ready to write about it because it feels so vulnerable to talk about working around the clock to help clients — who are now friends — keep their livelihoods going.

For Audrea, there has been a big adjustment from working remotely and learning to coach remotely. While working remotely has been rewarding in some ways, there are so many more distractions and the pressure is ON to kick our business development efforts into high gear. It’s also summertime and sunshine means the mountains are calling to me.

“Candidly, there have been some struggles with depression and anxiety that hit me harder than I thought possible. I missed time from work. I missed deadlines at work. I couldn’t sleep at night and could barely stay away during the day. It felt like every little thing weighed heavier than it should. It took seeing a doctor and going to therapy to be able to get my head above water.”

Black Lives Matter

The race protests and the general unrest have also taken their toll on us. We have Black friends and family that we love and are fearful for. We are angry at the treatment of BIPOC communities by the police. We are frustrated by the continued systemic inequity for BIPOC communities.

We felt the need to step back and listen. We didn’t think our voices needed to be the predominant voices for a little bit, so we shared our thoughts on creating a safe place for all women and then dove into learning and listening.

We took a pause, but now we are turning the dialogue back on and we hope you continue to engage as well.

We have a few fantastic podcasts coming out soon. They were recorded before the Black Lives Matter protests and so we held them back as the timing and tone didn’t feel right.

However, now we want to share the stories from these amazing women so look for them over the next 6 weeks.

We also have big and exciting news coming later this fall!

The Think Tank of Three is evolving again and we couldn’t be more excited! Sorry (not sorry) for the teaser, but we’ve been working on this since the spring and needed some time to get it right. We are planning the big unveiling in early September, so stay tuned for a special podcast episode!

Thank you for bearing with us as we did a little soul searching and mental health resetting.

Thank you for engaging with us as we come back.

Thank you for being a part of this community that we love so dearly.

Please let us know how we can better support you! We want to continue our efforts to create a community of empowered women.

Share with us what’s on your mind. Tell us what topics you’d like us to tackle. Suggest future podcast guests or guest bloggers. Reach out to us directly or in the Think Tank of Three Facebook group to share your successes and lessons learned!

And stay tuned for some amazing new women sharing their stories.

 

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash