Bouncing back from COVID-19 setbacks

Stay in the fight ‘til the final round

You’re not going under

‘Cause God is holding you right now

You might be down for a moment

Feeling like it’s hopeless

That’s when he reminds you

That you’re an overcomer

Overcomer, Mandisa

The year 2020 is one in which many persons were looking forward to accomplishing their dreams, some even adopting the slang ‘double, double’ in expectation of good things to come.

But with the sudden and unexpected emergence of COVID-19, many have since been thrown into a tailspin, and instead, they are faced with the prospect of job loss with their businesses or places of work going bust. Some have, themselves, even been infected with the virus. This has caused serious displacements with so many lives being upended.

With experiences like that, some person’s faith has been shaken to the core and their confidence shattered. They wonder if they will ever bounce back from COVID-19.

For answers to how to get past this nightmare, Family & Religion reached out to global strategist, executive coach, and CEO of the International School of Greatness, Toronto, Canada, Alex Ihama.

While agreeing that the impact of COVID-19, especially from a socio-economic standpoint, was devastating and unprecedented, he said that recovery will require the grace of God and heightened levels of resilience and resourcefulness.

“It will need people to take a deep dive into their hearts and minds and tap into the strength that comes from the joy of the Lord and their creative capability,” he shared.

To assist in starting the process of personal and socioeconomic recovery, Ihama offered a psycho spiritual strategy of three keys in becoming resilient and resourceful.

The first, he said, is “unabashed faith”. Persons will never be able to bounce back from anything until they first believe they can, he said.

“Faith is not just a spiritual belief but a series of required action steps to achieve your objective. It will require all the mental effort and willpower in you to believe that no matter the amount of pain and loss you experienced, you can, will, and shall rise again, even beyond your previous level of success,” Ihama said.

The second strategy, according to him, is “unwavering fortitude”, which, he pointed out, is courage. This, he said, is the strength of mind and strength of character, as well as the demonstration of endurance in the face of adversity.

Fortitude, he stressed, is a determination to rise above the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus.

“It says, no matter the extent of the damage, no matter the loss of a job, associates, and even family members, I will double the effort for success and will not tire until I soar on wings like an eagle, as God promised,” he said.

The third strategy, shared Ihama, is “unswerving focus”. He said that many persons talk about focus, but only a few understand and exemplify it.

Observing that the massive distractions in daily mainstream and social media fight for our time and mind, Ihama said that only those who are faithful to their God, purpose, vision, and dreams will excel in the test of focus.

Focus, he said, is doing nothing else whatsoever that would take away time from that which you must achieve.

“Some people think that focus is only about your time, which is not entirely true. Focus is more demanding, first, mentally. It is the level of concentration in your mind that will determine the amount of time and effort you make physically. To achieve anything, therefore, requires a stronger mental effort than a physical one,” he said.

Ihama pointed out that the process of recovery is going to be harder than that of the lockdown and social distancing. He said those who wish to rise above this must spend the remaining downtime practising the strategies so they can get to work as soon as the market and economy reopen for business.