During 2020, staying positive is key. One of the positives I’ve recently noticed is that our members are appreciating the ways their current work and life circumstances have given them the perspective to see the positive over the negative.

In this Positivity Series, I will be sharing Midwest members’ positive take on work, life, and all those little unexpected things in between.

Deborah Weinstock from Minneapolis

Deborah has had an incredible journey over her career at Moss & Barnett in Minneapolis. Below she shares three positives with us: a professional, a personal and an unexpected positive.

Deborah’s Professional Positive:

Deborah took advantage of her early work from home environment to do some much-needed organizing and fine tuning. (As marketers, the organizer in us never stops working!) She could finally prioritize those tasks that always seemed to end up on the back-burner. She also took this time to learn some new skills through LMA webinars. This included experimenting with Instagram and digging into SEO to hone her skills. Deborah shared that doing these things set her up to hit the ground running – while feeling even more accomplished – as her key projects started ramping back up after the initial shock of COVID was over.

Deborah’s Personal Positive:

While working from home, she started the daily practice of mid-afternoon walks (weather permitting!) to break up the routine and get her mind refreshed. (Studies show that short breaks and walks reset the brain and are incredibly valuable ways to stay alert at work and encourage more creative thinking; Deborah, you’re onto something!). She shared that she loved rediscovering her neighborhood, and having the time and space to actually enjoy what it was that she fell in love with in her Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood: cool restaurants, breweries and distilleries, seeing new luxury apartments and homes being built, cute little crooked residential sidewalks, and walking and biking paths along the Mississippi. She felt she noticed again ‘for the first time’ lots of churches, dive bars, parks and a whole mix of people.

Deborah’s Unexpected Positive:

Deborah shared the personal story of when COVID first ravaged NYC, and how that impacted her family. She said her daughter and her family came to Minnesota to stay with her for three months. During this time, Deborah described how she was able to spend a lot of precious time, both with her daughter (who was also pregnant with her second child) and her granddaughter. But for COVID, she would not have had this time together, and feels extremely grateful for that. Additionally, once her second granddaughter is born, Deborah plans to fly to NYC (her daughter and family have now returned to NYC) to help out during this special time. Again, but for COVID and our remote work capability, this would not be possible. (Deborah: I cannot think of a more beautiful story, thank you!!)