Something Uplifting About This Crisis

I have been telling people that I’ve gotten through the five stages of grief over the last week. More specifically known as the Kübler-Ross model, it outlines a series of emotions people can feel when experiencing loss. The psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first described the model (Denial-Anger-Bargaining-Depression-Acceptance) based on her experience working with terminally ill patients. It feels like this can be applicable to how people are dealing with the impact of the coronavirus on their lives. While I’m fortunate enough to be in a pretty healthy situation, I know that this crisis has affected our society both physically and psychologically.

David Kessler is an author and world renowned expert on grief who co-wrote two books with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, he described adding a sixth stage to grief that comes after acceptance: meaning. And one of the most uplifting stories I have heard about the coronavirus leading to meaning came from a recent podcast episode.

Acquired is one of my favourite podcasts. It’s a show hosted by two guys who work in venture capital (Ben and David) and in each episode they examine a famous company acquisition or IPO (anything from Huawei to Virgin America to Snapchat), go through the company’s historical context, and assess the success or failure of the acquisition/IPO. Sounds…