Now, experiencing one that is far worse than the one we experienced in 2008, there are a few surprises about a recession that I am encountering on a daily basis.
1. Lay offs and salary cuts are normal. It's not unusual for someone to say they got laid off or got a cut in their salary without it sounding horrific, like it would sound to me a few months prior.
2. The idea of you loosing your own job becomes a possibility. Although my job is relatively safe and stable, the uncertainty of how long the recession will last and the domino effects we will see in the long run leads to an unconscious mental preparation that "it could be me someday".
3. The difference between essential and non-essential suddenly stands out so starkly. Seeing gyms and exercise studios closed, but grocery stores crowded as ever, gives me a reality check on what is essential to our survival and what isn't. For me, a gym or yoga studio is much more essential to keep my lifestyle, which no longer exists in the same way it used to. I would visit my yoga classes far more than the grocery store, but now, I see fitness institutes bleeding money as they are shut down due to lockdowns.
4. From a business standpoint, it makes me think of "real pain" versus "nice to have". As much as entrepreneurship grows, and we see interesting types of fitness studios, dog cafes, entertainment centres grow and make money, they are still "nice to haves" which disappear overnight in situations such as these. Not just pandemics, because those don't happen often, but a financial recession, which do happen every few years lead to businesses that are built on real pains surviving much more than lifestyle businesses that we as humans can survive without.
5. There are some businesses that "luck out" given the situation. Netflix and other online entertainment companies aren't necessarily essential. Neither are e-learning companies (yet), as much as I'd like them to be. However, this recession was triggered by a pandemic that necessitated the need for online entertainment and remote ways of learning, which is why some businesses which ordinarily wouldn't do so well in a recession, did well in this case.
6. The world begins to feel like a more empathetic place, where people genuinely understand what the others are going through, atleast to an extent. Everytime I call another stranger for work as a sales person, I can feel the genuine concern and empathy no matter where they live or work. In a personal context, when someone tells me they are about to be retrenched or just got retrenched, I don't feel pity as much as I feel empathy. Some people even display an effort to be of help to people who are in worse off situations compared to themselves. I don't know if this would still be the case if it was a recession minus the pandemic, but atleast at the moment, that's what it feels like.
7. As always, the poor are hit most, but in the worse possible currency. It isn't just that the poor loose the ability to afford shelter, food, clothing. But they also loose more lives, which is the worst possible currency to be dealing in. In the case of COVID, it's the close living quarters and lack of access to medical facilities which could make health a more immediate threat. Even it's looked at as a pure recession minus the pandemic, starvation, hunger, suicides become more prominent in the poorer sections of society.
8. "Luck" feels so important, more than ever. I didn't deliberately choose to work in Singapore in the technology sector which is relatively safe compared to other industries such as events companies in Europe or the US. I was simply lucky to be here when this recession started.
These reflections make me wonder how people got through even worse periods in history such as wars, where a recession was just among a long list of worries, and the threat to human lives lasted longer than a few months. Such experiences have a way of stopping time and making you feel much older both at once.
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