✏️ Roundup: “Week 5”

April 14, 2020
From Amanda’s desk…

I Ain’t Gonna Lie

If I told you that I was doing ok with all this coronavirus stuff going on, it would be a lie. I have a tendency to compartmentalize things, which can be handy in stressful situations, but isn’t necessarily a great way to live your life. It is how I roll.

The West Marin Fund held a Zoom call for Executive Directors that focused on leadership in stressful times. It was helpful. As the Executive Director of KWMR it’s my job to keep the ship going in the right direction. Sticking with that metaphor, I’m lucky to have some great shipmates in the KWMR staff and all the amazing volunteers!

The three take-ways from the call were that leaders need to take care of themselves in order to effectively lead, that leaders must be honest, and that being vulnerable can be a sign of strength.

I’m doing ok on the self care portion. I put that in motion when I first got this job and was still running another business at the same time. Self care had to come first in order for me to be able to do that. Being honest is critical, and to be honest, we just don’t know what the future holds, but we’ll continue to work on ways to keep programmers and staff safe, while continuing with local, home-grown radio.

Yes, overall I’m doing ok. It’s beautiful outside since spring has sprung and the local natural environment isn’t suffering right now. I am however, very concerned about the human race. While the majority of people that I know seem to be heeding the advice to socially distance and shelter, the number of folks that aren’t is downright freaky.

I think that other than the fact that there is no remedy for COVID-19 yet, I have felt the most despair when seeing people disregard simple instructions to keep us all safe. It has been a surprise to me that  people that I don’t even know can break my heart.

Waylon a few days shy of his 2nd Birthday.    photo: Amanda Eichstaedt

Thank you all for taking good care of yourselves, for your kind words and financial contributions to KWMR during these tough times. While many things are uncertain. There is one thing that is for absolute sure – Thursday is Waylon’s 2nd birthday and we are going to celebrate here in Olema.

Amanda Eichstaedt
Station Manager and Executive Director

p.s. Mia has compiled these great resources and is updating them as necessary.

Top Photo: Paper boat image courtesy of Pexels.