On Not Doing Enough

When I read the newsletter emails from peers and partners spelling out their “Response to the COVID-19 Crisis,” my psychological reaction is quite similar to the neighborly comparison of “keeping up with the Joneses.” There is this vague need in me to prove to the world that Uncharted is doing enough, and perhaps through the prism of that insecurity, I find myself asking spiraling questions: “Are we doing enough? Look what they’re doing!”; Maybe we should be doing more?”; “Why aren’t we?”; “Have I failed?” My mind circles this fear of missing out, of not doing enough, of somehow falling short during a crisis like this. But I’ve found answering a different question has brought me some peace: “When I look back on all of this one day, what can we do now that will make me proud then?” It is a question that de-centers the fear of not keeping up and re-centers the acknowledgement of our human place amidst all the frenzy, and it calls us to respond in the best way we know how.