I have been thinking a lot about Anne Frank lately. I actually think about her generally, but more so right now.
While what she lived through is vastly different to what we’re experiencing there is some contemporary relevance and a lot we can learn from young Anne.
As each of us live with what is a global health and economic threat and repercussions of COVID19 we are collectively feeling vulnerable, uncertain, fearful as well as frustrated by the limitations on our personal freedom and ability to operate our businesses.
Yet the feelings of hardship right now are not mutually exclusive from the moments of joy. There is beauty in everything and rather than hypothesising about the concept of going slow; like many I am actually going slow with the people I love most, my family.
Right now there is more time to stay and not go with the kids that the speed of everyday life doesn’t deliver at quite the same level. I am also appreciating the diffusion of expectation and obligation to be anywhere other than where I am right now. For this I am grateful.
But beyond the beauty much like the world around Anne and outside the perceived safety of her “Secret Annex”, our world is overwhelming; and there is little we can do to change what is outside of our home at the moment, other than staying in.
Anne Frank, her family and family friends were in hiding for two years before they were found. In that time she wrote. And wrote some more. And ended up writing one of the most capturing, hopeful and enduring collections of prose ever written, she started her famous diary at just 13 years old.
In Anne’s first entry she wrote, “The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings. Otherwise, I’d absolutely suffocate.”
While we are not living confined due to exclusion and persecution; we are living with loss of freedom and loss of opportunity as we knew it. And like Anne, we didn’t choose to be in our situation or from a business perspective have business plans for 2020 derailed. But what we can choose is how we respond, and we can always write. We can always write.
Her power was in observation and self-reflection; she wrote about her fears, hopes and dreams which still make a deep impression on readers worldwide. And I’d like to see businesses do more of this. To be more human. Be more relatable. More real. To be open about challenges so that together we can solve them.
Writing for your business right now is something you can do. Even if no one is reading it. Everyone should be writing for their business almost every day or as often as possible.
In the process of doing this, you’ll form your opinions, reinforce to yourself what you do know and you’ll become more confident with being a thought contributor. You’ll also better position your brand for future uptake when the world resumes.
By writing and sharing what you know or what you’re challenged by might help someone. The by-product of helping someone who connects to your knowledge and experience is that other people will read it. You’ll develop meaningful connections for yourself and your business. And this is the greatest form of PR.
Words by Jade Roberts
raraPR Founder and Creative Director
raraPR is above all the sum of people who together help build brands and share stories. We are present in our determination to make a positive difference to the world by representing individuals and businesses that are doing good. We are an extension of the personal stories within us, those that we exist for and those within you that need to be heard.
