Our Greatest Chance To Reset
Welcome back, Melbourne. You never went away, we missed you.
Being in Melbourne while the city slept under the ‘Rona duvet was a surreal experience. Ghostly streets, vacated shops and hoards of first-time dog owners were strange features that punctuated our city.
Seeing the pandemic impact here over the last eight months has been heart wrenching. It has devastated lives, businesses, educations, dreams, and even our culture. But the grit, hustle, and ingenuity that came about as a result has been conversely heart warming and there has been some inspired brilliance that is proof in itself of the resilience and camaraderie of little old Melbourne.
A particular standout for me was our buddies from a certain local tavern who installed a working beer keg system in their Covid-safe van and were delivering fresh pints all around our ‘hood on the weekends. The joy that brought me is just hard to describe.
And the Brunswick East Entertainment Festival where a bunch of house mates put on amateur ‘dance shows’ on their front lawn for passing traffic. Magic in its purest.
Of course, it hasn’t been all good times bouncing about in Lycra or drinking froffies in the back of a van. There are plenty of people out there who have been really struggling, and will for quite some time. But there are also uplifting stories of support to help those people too.
Our dear friends at Wormlovers have been growing veggies to bring down to community centres for disadvantaged communities. There have been local support groups popping up on old fashioned neighbourhood message boards. R U OK day seemed to get more coverage than ever before.
And naturally, we all got behind takeaway options from our local cafes, pubs and restaurants. Maybe for a reason to get out of the house, but also to support the devastated hospo industry that is a life blood of our city.
The love and support has been everywhere.
Every week I try to talk with someone different from either my work or personal circles, just to check in and see how they’re going. And while it’s probably as much for myself as for them, it’s been reassuring to hear from other people in similar situations, knowing that we aren’t the only ones struggling, and we truly are in this together.
Friends from outside of Melbourne have been calling to check in too. One particular interstate friend asked me: “What is it really like in Melbourne? You must be going crazy, yeah?”
We’re not crazy.
Sure, we’re exhausted from sitting around at home, and maybe a bit fed up.
But we are also triumphant. And we’ve all learned to smile with our eyes.
We’ve also reassessed whats important. For myself, and many I’ve spoken to, the slowdown in life has been revitalising and maybe even caused a reevaluation of how we operate in business. Several industry colleagues have pointedly said to me that they ‘won’t go back to how it was before’, with the longs hours, overcommitting, being constantly contactable, the always ‘on’ mentality…it can get pretty draining.
As we look towards the rebuild and recover process we have a monumental chance to change how we do things. Not just in our life-work balance but also in the structure and effectiveness of our communities, our businesses and crucially, our environment.
There is already a huge push for ‘Green Recovery’ and ‘Build Back Better’ initiatives and, despite the usual political machinations, parts of business sector are already leading the charge in making these movements a reality.
This is an incredibly important opportunity for business to reset and strive for a more sustainable approach to social as well as environmental improvement.
For my company, we are already heavily focussed on sustainability, and our modus operandi is all about driving change in environmental awareness and action in our industry. But there is always more that we could do. We have spent our lockdown bolstering our team with new skills, education, accreditations and we are developing new goals and strategies to determine even better ways of doing things.
And right here and now, I’m pledging to use the train instead of flying interstate. (Recommendations for new books welcomed.)
We’re a long way from being through this pandemic, and until we find an effective vaccine, there is always the spectre of another wave leering from the shadows. But now that we have some breathing space here in Melbourne, we can reconnect with each other and assess how we move forward with purpose and direction.
We will never get another chance like this to reset.
If now isn’t the time to correct our trajectory, then that time does not exist.
As us Melbournians all get back to enjoying our renowned hospitality this week, and rejoicing in being together within our beloved city, I encourage everyone to also throw a thought towards what changes you are going to strive for in the new world. I encourage you to not be disheartened by it, but be inspired by finding actions that influence others.
Lean into it. Make it a mission. Make a difference.
Marky Rochford
Photo by Bulkan Evcimen
