Rachael Robertson is an Antarctic expedition leader, a best selling author and friend of Fjallraven. We asked Rachael for some tips on managing isolation, drawing on her experiences leading a team in Antarctica. Here are Rachael’s three rules for working with others while in isolation:
No Triangles
No triangles just means you don't speak to me about him, or I don't speak to you about her. No triangles. If you've got something to say to someone, you go direct to the person, you don't take it to a third party. And why it's so important now is when you're under pressure or under stress, which a lot of us are feeling at the moment. The last thing you need to worry about is somebody complaining about you behind your back. So we use this tool in Antarctica and it really works. It's a simple tool, no triangles.
Beware the Bacon Wars
The bacon war started off as a fight between two teams in Antarctica about whether the bacon should be soft or crispy. But when I got to the bottom of it, I realised one team thought the other team was deliberately cooking the bacon the opposite way. So it actually had nothing to do with bacon. It was about respect or feeling disrespected. And as we're in lockdown, and we're living really closely with each other, these little things will really drive us nuts. And the reason why is sometimes they're a symptom of the deep issue. And the deeper issue is the lack of respect. So things like dirty coffee mugs or wet towels lying around. The reason we get so heated up about them is because they're a symptom of a deeper issue. So you need to get in front of those issues and talk about them and raise them and deal with them.
Look after yourself
Whatever you've been doing for the last four or five weeks to keep sane is going to be even more important in the next few weeks. Because by now, any kind of novelty is worn off. We're all over it now. So for me it's walking, it's putting on some great gear and getting outside in the great outdoors, getting some fresh air. So whatever it is for you, whether it's a yoga class or walking, taking the dog for a walk, whatever you're doing, keep doing it because we've still got a bit to go. We've done great so far, but we've got a little bit to go.
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