Stop! Think. Act.

I woke up before the alarm went off yesterday and this happens every time I go to bed anxious. It could be about catching an early morning flight, preparing for an important business meeting the following morning or at the crossroads of life. I still remember how restless I was the night before my heart surgery; even the anxiety pill failed to work. 

Anyway, waking up before the wake-up call could be considered a false alarm, but what if there is something important and significant lurking in your mind or being able to sense the soon-to-arrive tsunami like avians and animals. I woke up at 1.37 am, but my efforts to force myself to fall asleep failed. I got out of bed an hour later to make a cup of coffee and pen down an email to my family on what happened less than 24 hours at work. 

Dear all,

The intention of this email is make all of us list down common and individual challenges, and how we can ensure life as-usual in case there is a situation. Here is an incident that will enable you to start thinking.

I had a work situation yesterday that put me in a bit of stress, but we managed it very well. At 8.45 am yesterday my boss collapsed at work. He was fine a few minutes ago and we even exchanged a good conversation that morning and I was puzzled how life holds secrets of future without a password or even a login screen. He held his chest, wriggled in pain and almost fell on the floor in front of me. I felt helpless and so many thoughts crossed my mind before the paramedics arrived. I thought about how to get the message across to his family and how they would manage the situation. 

This brought memories of receiving a phone calls at work from Amma when Appa was taken to the hospitals in Chennai (2004) and Thanjavur (2009) for recurrent arrhythmia. Though Amma managed the situation very well in getting him immediate medical attention, while each of us took care of other responsibilities from arranging the right emotional, financial and medical support to get over the situation. Over the years we've got really experienced in receiving bad news and surviving them.

Since my move to Paris I have been following my manager like a shadow at work, and I wanted to accompany him to the hospital and travel with him in the ambulance. Instead left him in the hands of the paramedics and doctors and put a small Ganesha idol in his pocket to accompany on this journey. Ther were many things to be taken care of at work. Even when he was in pain my manger was murmuring the tasks to be completed and asked to convey the apologies to the team. I know he would not be upset if I didn't go with him in the ambulance.

As a senior member in the team, I quickly called for a team meeting to make a list of all items he handled and how we would distribute work amongst us and keep the business running. My manager copied us on important emails and he was no afraid of trusting us with responsibilities. This was possible because there was a good amount of transparency in the team and willingness to take additional responsibilities. 

Not all of us are comfortable to share our work and responsibilities because we are afraid of being replaced or losing importance. But we must be practical and think of people and organizations after our time and must not cause inconvenience those who leave behind. My heart surgery though happened suddenly gave me an opportunity to organize my life and put things black and white on a spreadsheet.

With flight accidents becoming a front page story every month, last August before I took a flight to India, I left copies of all important files on the server. On the other hand my boss leaves paper copies of all documents in the filing cabinet. We've created an ideal back-up for back-up. 

But luckily there was nothing life threatening as imagined, and my manager was discharged from the hospital later in the evening. He was diagnosed of stress, fatigue and burn out and was advised a minimum of two weeks rest.

This can happen to anyone and at any house hold. It is important that we organize our financial documents, passwords and share our commitments, etc. There can be family secrets, but no individual secrets. We've had several close calls at home and we still operate in silos and continue to be a risk to each other. 

I have an excel file with all my passwords, and details of all financial investments and monthly payments. I have a similar file at work given access to team members and created adequate back-ups to ensure business-as-usual. Imagine if none of this was available. It would put undue stress on the teams to figure out reality and bring back things under control. 

Many years ago (1997) when I was leaving for U.S. Appa had created a documented outlining various scenarios (loss of baggage, passport, guardian doesn't show up at the airport, etc.) how I must go about solving each of them without panic. This was such a brilliant idea compared to free and unsolicited advices that I got from friends who came to wish be before the journey.

Sadly, we have no control over our destinies or our future, but think about who next and what next. I don't mind helping you create your personal file to organize your investments, payments, passwords and create back-ups to simplify our lives. 

We've had several wake up calls and false alarms in the family and we still don't have a contingency plan in place. Thanks to our laziness, ego and insecurity. The pain of sharing is easier to endure than pain of self discovery. Stop, think and act!

Chandra 

There is nothing wrong waking up to false alarms than hitting on the snooze button and panicking later. At the time of crisis, we all need a manual or guidance and it is possible to create those manuals with the help of our colleagues and family members. Let's save Anxit for other situations that is not under our control.