PAUSE OR PLAY

I’ve become a germophobe. I’m afraid to touch anything outside of my house and it has become so bad that I don’t want to leave the confines of my home. Since the lockdown in March, I’ve only left the house less than fifteen times. I’m afraid to touch the elevator buttons in my building. I’m afraid to push and pull doors. And I’m scared to touch the handles of my car. My paranoia has hit an all time high. Apart from being afraid of getting the virus, I think I’m more terrified about the potential bill that I would have to foot if I did get the virus because a oneto three-million peso medical bill is not a joke. And because I constantly interface with the family driver and the hired help for essentials and other things that need transporting, the transmission to my very large family is highly likely. Like many companies, our organization had to be agile. We had to pivot quicker than my staff could comprehend. Thankfully, we didn’t have to let go of any employee, but we did shutdown for two months and when we did return, we were working under reduced hours. We took extra measures to save the company. As a businessman myself, I experienced weeks of anxiety and fear. Nights were long and very dark, but luckily the emotions generated there didn’t turn into depression. I think that if you are a middle-aged man who has gone through a lot, COVID-19 can feel like swimming in a lake instead an ocean. During the two months that we didn’t work, I entertained thoughts of closing shop, changing careers, relocating to the suburbs for clean air, and so much more. I asked myself so many times, play, pause or stop? In April, we decided to hit the play button, but as weeks came, revenue was not coming in the way it used to. We had no choice, but to pause because we simply could not afford it. We then made a bold move to resume and when we did, we have a clear vision of where we wanted to take the company not just in 2020, but beyond. Our lives have changed forever and this will be filed under unpopular opinion, but I’m glad it did. Hitting stop was never an option.

For years, I would come home only to sleep. I would travel so much, I would wake up not knowing where I was. I also ate so much good food that I forgot how satisfying a home-cooked meal was versus a $500 Michelin star dinner. I was so busy making a career that I failed to realize that good air is far more important. I kept buying the latest collection of bags and clothing and not enough house clothes that will provide me with restful sleep. I was so careless about money, time and my body. When Nicolas Ghesquière launched his Spring Summer 2021 collection for Louis Vuitton in the flesh, he made a show that had a lot of care in it. First, there was obvious social distancing. Editors and buyers were evenly spaced apart. Second, he showed at La Samaritaine, an LVMH-owned shopping mall that was right across his office. While making a point about shopping, Ghesquière’s venue choice was much easier to produce and didn’t require transportation of his goods and people to farther places unlike previous seasons. And finally, he made the show digital first. For years, fashion was about closing doors, this time around, he wanted to open doors so that everyone had a seat to the show whether you belong to the inner circle or not. This, I find, is a product again of the pandemic we live in and I love it. A true businessman, Ghesquière also decided to hit the play button instead of stop. Mounting a show is unnecessary, but he felt different about it. “The actual responsibility to show is important because it’s about the artisans, the atelier, the production people. All the economics of it, and their passion. I feel very responsible for that these days, to be honest. The responsibility to go on,” he says. I couldn’t agree more with his final statement and I do hope that business owners feel the same way in whatever industry you are in. In the quest to eventually flatten the curve of crisis, I was taught to be careful. Now, I’m a germophobe and more than being afraid, I now know to care for more important things.