How do you adapt when life happens? I recently had a health challenge that required me to temporarily adjust my work schedule, travel, and volunteer work. Here are some things to consider:

Personal and professional considerations:

• Take an inventory of your needs, support system, and available resources
• Allow time to process the situation yourself
• Take a step back and re-prioritize
• Determine who has a “need to know” about what is going on

Take action:

• Control the narrative: Decide what/how much you share, with whom, when, and how
• Communicate your needs and preferences
• Anticipate and mitigate work and family impacts
• Set boundaries, pause/limit certain activities, and ask for help

If you supervise or work with someone dealing with a significant life event, here are some tips for supporting them:

• Maintain your typical level of contact and interactions
• Ask (vs. assume) what support is needed or helpful using open-ended questions, like:
  • “How can I help?”
  • “What do you need from me?”
  • “What (if anything) would you like me to share with the team?”
• If they are taking some time off, assess their preferred means and frequency of contact, by whom, and when (maintains connection, while also creating predictability and control)
  • If they are not taking time off, schedule a few check-ins to see how things are going
• Be flexible, as needs and preferences may shift over time