Special Edition – CEO Message

Today we are sending out a special newsletter for the quarter because we wanted to reach out to all of you – our Leadership Women community – in these extraordinary and difficult times.

We were fortunate to get the 2020 Leadership Texas program underway back on March 1st, with a fabulous program for our 90 attendees.  Our last newsletter highlighted the program in Dallas – check out the article if you haven’t already done so.  Since then of course the whole world has changed, and last week we cancelled the first session of Leadership America which was to be held in Washington, DC at the end of April. A big disappointment for us all, but there was no other choice. For now, remaining programming for the year remains in place; if anything changes of course we will reach out immediately to notify those of you enrolled in those programs.

We know that all of you are indirectly or directly impacted by the COVID19 pandemic, and we send you our caring thoughts and best wishes. We hope that you and your loved ones are safe, healthy and managing to keep your spirits up. We also want to support you however we can; to that end we have just set up Facebook Groups for 18 regions within the state of Texas and will be rolling out other cities across the nation next week. Read Heidi’s post below for more detail; but the idea is to facilitate communication between all of you and make it easy for you to both request assistance and offer help, as well as pass on tips, advice, and ideas. We hope you take advantage of these groups, and please send us your feedback and suggestions.

As Leadership Women graduates, I am sure you are all being tremendous role models for leadership in your communities. Those of you on the front lines in healthcare, care giving or other essential services are owed a big thank you for your selfless service! The rest of us are hopefully following guidelines for staying home as much as possible, practicing physical distancing from others and exercising caution in handling food or other goods coming into the home.

It is important to stay informed – just make sure the sources you are referencing are knowledgeable and information – not opinion – based. Sources like the National Institute of Health, the World Health Organization and the CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – are all reliable.

And it is just as important to protect your emotional well being as well as your mental health when trying to cope during times of high stress like this. Finding a safe way to do some physical activity; staying connected to family members and friends via the phone, internet, Zoom, FaceTime –and have any of you tried the Virtual Happy Hour experience?? Listen to music, read, or watch one of the many televised or streamed dance and other performances available every night – or take a virtual museum or gallery tour. All of these are offering some magnificent televised or online experiences:

and these are just a few examples! – there are many more to choose from and lots with special offerings for children.

Go for walks and engage in other outdoor activities as you can – keeping a safe distance – because nature is so energizing. The wonderful Miramar Farms in Half Moon Bay, California recommends gardening, listening to the free programming offered by the meditation app Headspace, and moving and breathing to Yoga with Adriene – especially the series “Yoga for Uncertain Times”. No experience or equipment required. You can also connect to Miramar Farms on Instagram @miramar_farms and find wonderful, healthy recipes every day.

And stay in touch with us! We are here – can’t go anywhere… – so please let us know your own suggestions to help keep your fellow Leadership Women sisters sane!, as well as interests, ideas and what you would like to see from us, at [email protected].  We miss you!

Stay healthy.

Linda

For information on the LW Regional Facebook pages…