I was talking with a friend about some of the unexpected side-effects of the SARS virus which has been making headline news in Hong Kong and the rest of the world for over 6 weeks now. She has 3 young children – her youngest, Jennie, is 5 years old and she has trouble remembering “Severe Atypical Respiratory Syndrome” – so she refers to it as “Harmonia”. But this turns out to be not such a bad description after all.

In the initial stages of the virus no-one was certain about the infection rate or the effects on young children – so sensible parents started keeping children at home and regulating their contact with other children. For my friend with 3 children, they have had to learn to play together – and not spend time with their other friends. The after school activities, that involved almost military co-ordination to ensure 3 children got to their respective ballet, Chinese painting, karate, Mandarin and other lessons, have been cancelled. The family have been forced to spend time together. They are now “tight” – as described by my friend – in other words, they have become really close. Other side effects – less eating out at restaurants - so my friend has brushed up her culinary skills and produced more family meals with the children sharing the preparation. “Can we keep doing this after the SARS finishes?” was one request from her oldest son. My friend smiled with great pleasure recounting this tale and also acknowledged with a sigh of relief how her life had slowed down. Her husband has also benefited from the SARS outbreak – his frequent travelling to China has been curtailed to once a week, and more use of telephone conferencing has helped him also to spend more time with his family. Life as a family is indeed in “Harmonia”.

Life in Hong Kong can be extremely fast-paced with almost no time to reflect on the important things in life. It can be a bit of a challenge to spend time with yourself when you are used to being able to distract yourself almost constantly.

So what benefits could you get from slowing life down, translating one business meeting into a telephone conversation, cancelling one after-work drinks networking function? What would you choose to do instead that would be something that nurtures yourself rather than driving yourself onwards. What could you do to create more ‘Harmonia” in your life?

Enter your email address to subscribe to Future-Perfect's newsletter: