#NonVerbalMaskChallenge

 

During this pandemic, we have all been asked to wear a mask in order to protect others around us. No matter the fit, masks continually seem to fall down below our noses, rendering them useless, they fog up glasses, and they develop friction points around the ears that sometimes create skin irritation. Masks hide the ability for others to see our mouths when we are talking, which inhibits communication, some look really cool, but don't meet CDC guidelines, and they sometimes make you self-conscious because you find out how bad your breath really smells. For all the negatives that come along with masks, we wear them as a team sacrifice because they keep those around us safe. But a bigger question that we should be asking ourselves is what can't masks hide from others?

The reality of our current situation is that in spite of the fact that we have to wear masks that cover up the ability to effectively and clearly communicate with those around us, we have an opportunity to hone in on some other non-verbal communication skills that may have fallen by the wayside. The challenge for us all is to embrace the opportunity to be better and develop some new habits that will help us long after this pandemic is over.

It has been said that the eyes are the window to our souls and you can tell a lot about a person by how they are looking at you instead of focusing on what they are saying. Your eyes can tell people if you are emotional, tired, stress, and a whole lot more. What if we all made a commitment to let our eyes do the talking instead of our mouths? Instead of spewing words that may get misinterpreted, we could look upon people with kindness and grace and develop more compassion for people by understanding that everyone is going through something that we may not know about. When people look into your eyes, let them see love, kindness, and patience. The world would be a much better place if we decided to make this change. I implore everyone to take the #NonVerbalMaskChallenge for the remainder of the pandemic to see if we all can come out of this better than when we came in.

LET KINDNESS SHINE THROUGH
A mask can't hide your kindness towards others. People may not be able to see all of your facial expressions because they are hidden behind a mask or a face shield, but what this Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) can't hide is your willingness to be kind to others. Kindness can be shown through action by opening up a door for someone, lending a helping hand when someone is struggling, or even surprising someone with a gift they weren't expecting. The notion of random acts of kindness is good in principle, but we should strive to remove the "randomness" from it and make it a part of our daily lives and just be kind all of the time.

LAUGH, THINK, & CRY EACH DAY

Jimmy Valvano once said, "If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." One might argue that laughing is not a non-verbal communication strategy, but for the sake of this blog it is. Regardless, if we all engaged in the process of laughing, thinking, and being moved to tears on a daily basis, we may just have an opportunity to make the world a better place. Instead of moving directly to anger, stress, or frustration, we could pause, reflect, and change directions so that the trajectory of our days is one that moves us forward instead of stalling us out.

USE YOUR EARS

The Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” The great thing about the #NonVerbalMaskChallenge is that we have an opportunity to actually practice this. In an age of social media where everyone feels obligated to give their two cents on a topic no matter what it is, we can embrace the opportunity to use our ears and listen to those around us instead of contributing to the noise. Your voice is important, but think about how much more influence you might have if you followed Aaron Burr's advice to Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton when he stated, "Talk less, smile more." The other advice Burr gives Hamilton in the rest of the song is dubious at best, but there is a real nugget of truth in talking less and smiling more. Let your mask be your daily reminder to focus on listening before speaking and tasting your words before you spit them out.

LET YOUR MASK BE A PART OF YOUR EPIC

In this chapter of your epic, you have an opportunity to write your story based off your actions rather than your words. As I have previously written in Focus on the Be before the Do, we all have an opportunity to pivot from the path we are on and really take an in-depth look at our current reality and focus on what we want to be before doing what we want to do. This requires that we focus on actions rather than words and a mask can facilitate that process for us. Many years from now, we can look back on this pandemic and we can see it as a turning point when wearing a mask actually allowed us to change the narrative of our story. We can view our masks as a way of hiding in plain sight of others as we underwent a metamorphosis into a better version of ourselves. 

There it is! You have been given the #NonVerbalMaskChallenge. It is a personal challenge that only you can decide to take on. You won't be perfect, but that isn't the point. The point is to commit to something that will help you learn and grow so that WHEN the pandemic is over, you have adopted a whole new way of life that will carry on as you continue to #OwnYourEpic.

#Onward