Everything came closing down… This Friday doesn’t seem like other Fridays. I haven’t walked outside in 10 days. Ok, I got two Whole Foods deliveries but in total that accounted for 10 minutes outside my room! The visa process is still going on. In about a couple of days, I’ll get to know how I need to plan for the rest of my year and beyond.
So I returned after a journey that was like no other. The journey itself was pretty smooth but the environment around the trip was harrowing. When we left from here, there was no pandemic and borders were relatively open. The economy was hurt but governments around the world had not churned out trillions of dollars in economic stimulus programs.
Right now people across the world are hankered down at their places of residence and working from home. Most large companies are supporting remote work policies, though most leaders are also actively looking at cost cutting measures. The common man is unable to go out of their house and spend, which means that retailers like Walmart will not generate growth in earnings, which means means the the stock market will not post growth, which means traders will not make money on their investments, which means banks will churn profits. All in all to say that the economy will, already has started to slow down. The question isn’t when will it happen, it’s more like how long will it take to get back to normal.
This would be a good time to step up the learning curve. Weather through corporate learning programs or through personal courses on websites like udemy, coursera or other learning institutions. Times of financial stress is when it’s a good idea to get re-skilled and prepare for a time of boom after this slow period. Am I being unnecessarily optimistic? No, I think this is the only practical way around it. Am I being pessimistic about the near future? No, the streets down below are empty and this is downtown Atlanta. One of the most bustling metropolises’ in the world.
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