Incredibility, changes, fear, losses, uncertainties, tribute!

I have been doing the Diary of Change for 12 years, the last one I sent was in mid-February, I had prepared one for March when the world turned upside down at all, and it has taken me days and days to decide to do this one.

What else can be said that has not been said in so many articles, media, or mentions on the social media? 80 days of lockdown brings an accumulation of incredible unthinkable experiences! We have each lived it differently, we had prepared ourselves to face many things, but I doubt that someone was prepared for a pandemic; it was not part of our vocabulary.

Companies, including ours, thought that 2020 might not be a year of strong growth, but it would be a “good” year. We thought that there were still, in the real estate sector, a couple of years of good progress, a couple of years that would allow us to consolidate new projects that we had underway; but suddenly, in one day, we understood with disbelief that we were initiating “a lockdown”, everything was turned upside down, everything stopped.

In 24 hours, it was necessary to change the entire operation of the company, start teleworking, define new communication systems, etc. Meanwhile, families also had to change suddenly to assume the fact of having children at home; to others, those who live alone had to assume prolonged solitude. For each one it has been a change, changes that we have had to adapt without prior learning.

Moreover, suddenly most of us experienced fear, the individual fear for the health of our own, of friends and acquaintances, fear because we were knowing people who were leaving us, fear as a society because of the future, the fear for the company.

And from fear to uncertainty, what would be the nearest future? And in the medium and long term? How does it affect us as people? As a society? And to the company? Will we hold on? What will we have to do with a staff of more than 80 people? Will companies close? Will there be much unemployment? Everything are questions and more questions, with a very few answers.

And here we are, between the uncertainty and the large number of changes that we must make to face this new era!

And the most importantly, we want to pay tribute to all those clients, friends, acquaintances that the COVID-19 has taken, to all the healthcare workers, sellers, workers, who have allowed us to continue living our lives, to all the workers who in one day have had to start teleworking without probably the conditions it would require, combining with children, grandparents, etc. And to those who have had to leave the job…

And especially, to all our client-owners and tenants who have understood the exceptional moment and who, with empathy and good sense, and without lights or cameras, have reached agreements; and to all the community members and presidents who have respected the strict rules on of community areas …

This nightmare will end one day, but while life does not stop; let’s continue!

Immaculada Amat

Amat Immobiliaris President