By Maria Alejandra Delgadillo – Student of Business Administration

Think about how currently everything has changed to a “new normal,” and people are going through periods of significant adjustments where there is more uncertainty, trauma, and upheaval. There is much change to get used to happening all at once at great speed, and the best remedy for this is going to be our adaptability competence. An essential competency skill that has been put into practice more than ever. This competency has been developing through this crisis and has brought significant changes and hard times to people.

Adaptability has been the best asset anyone can and should possess during this period of uncertainty. Some people have been more creative and flexible regarding new situations, plus it has brought benefits. Adapting is accepting the unexpected by planning one step at a time.

Differentiating between what can and cannot be controlled will help you develop flexibility and understanding that the future will always be unpredictable (Heath, 2020). This can be seen in how work has become remote, and the school has gone almost entirely online. Zoom, Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meets have been everyone’s new best friend when it comes to meeting. Furthermore, we can see an improvement in air pollution. Levels of nitrogen dioxide over cities and industrial areas in Asia and Europe have lowered as much as 40% compared to 2019, and health regulation masks have become necessary. This implies that adaptability to the new situation has brought out improvements, and adaptability has developed for the better of everyone. Some might say that they have been having a hard time adapting to the new normal, but adaptability can be learned through patience and, as mentioned before, accepting the unexpected and acting upon it.

This crisis has both its negatives and positives. On the other hand, it can be said that the pandemic is showing the worst in people when it comes to adapting to the new normal. Adjusting to social distancing has brought negative results since social interaction is one of the essential human needs of survival. Social distancing rules have caused psychological issues, such as anxiety and stress. For example, in a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll conducted, about 53% of adults in the U.S. have reported that the coronavirus has negatively impacted their mental health because of job loss and the new adaptation of isolation that prevents them from interacting with others (Panchal et al, 2020).

Furthermore, adapting to remote work and limiting the number of people meeting has caused a worldwide economic recession. Since travel and tourism account for 10% of the global GDP, 50 million jobs are at risk (Scott, 2020), creating new barriers for people already suffering. This suggests that this adaptation and new rules has led to people suffering a hard time, and the crisis has brought a toll on their mental health plus their economic conditions.
Covid-19 has brought unexpected changes to everyone’s life, and people have needed to adapt to the new normal. Consequently, we have experienced negative outcomes like isolation and mental health issues and positive outcomes such as less pollution. As a result, we all need to adjust to the rapid changes by learning to develop our adaptability skills. We must learn to accept the unexpected, being flexible, and differentiating what can and cannot be controlled to create more significant outcomes and self-growth.

 

MOXIE es el Canal de ULACIT (www.ulacit.ac.cr), producido por y para los estudiantes universitarios, en alianza con el medio periodístico independiente Delfino.cr, con el propósito de brindarles un espacio para generar y difundir sus ideas.  Se llama Moxie - que en inglés urbano significa tener la capacidad de enfrentar las dificultades con inteligencia, audacia y valentía - en honor a nuestros alumnos, cuyo “moxie” los caracteriza.

References:
  • Heath, E. (2020, May 28). Adaptability may be your most essential skill in the covid-19 world. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/adaptability- coronavirus-skills/2020/05/26/8bd17522-9c4b-11ea-ad09-8da7ec214672_story.html.
  • Panchal, N., Kamal, R., Orgera, K., Cox, C., Garfield, R., Hamel, L., Chidambaram, P. (2020, August 21). The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use. KFF. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the- implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/.
  • Scott, J. (2020, March 27). The human impact of COVID-19 – and how business can help. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/this-is-the-human-impact-of- covid-19-and-how-business-can-help/.