Kintsugi, COVID, & Reshaping How Property Management Works

In spite of all the challenges that were presented to Americans last year, our role as a property manager has never been more visible or more valuable than it is now. 

Real Estate and Property Management is ALWAYS impacted by whatever is happening economically and politically. Whether it’s natural disasters, geopolitical uncertainty, stock market fluctuations, or the world of ever-changing technology, we have always been at the center of various struggles and opportunities that are brought in year after year. Obviously, 2020 brought no exception.

Adapting to change is nothing new for us, and under normal circumstances it’s a part of the job that we enjoy very much. But regardless of how you make a living, embracing the changes and struggles LIFE in general brings to us year after year, is a normal part of living. 

Things may fall apart. That’s life. But if you’re wise, you can use every scrap, patch yourself up, and keep going. That’s the essence of resourcefulness, resilience, persistence.

Kintsugi is a 400+ year old Japanese art form that “honors” broken pottery by repairing the scars, flaws, and imperfections of the piece with gold lacquer. Kintsugi translates as “golden repair” or kintsukuroi, “golden joinery”. The idea of embracing the cracks and breaks to create something new; an even stronger, storied, rare and MORE beautiful piece of art, teaches us an important lesson. 

That lesson being: it might just be absurd to gloss over the struggles and hardships in life and not use them to learn how to rebuild, heal, and gain wisdom. For me personally, looking through various photos of pottery, I prefer one of these pieces with gold interlaced throughout it. Otherwise, it’s not nearly as interesting and it’s just a bit too plain and boring for my taste.

In this day and age of social media where we constantly see everyone’s seemingly perfect moments and lives filled with happiness and beauty, sometimes we forget that flaws, brokenness and struggle is what’s *actually* normal. Not only is it normal, but perhaps that’s what should be most looked at and celebrated rather than being quickly swept under the rug before anyone else can see. 

Without struggle, we don’t learn how to reframe hardships in order to get stronger. Without brokenness, we would never learn how to heal or develop a patient endurance that sees us through to the other side. Without the crisis of the pandemic, we would have not developed new technologies and communication patterns to stay connected with residents and clients in constantly changing conditions. Without facing unprecedented challenges, we wouldn’t have had to pivot our strategies in order to find solutions that leave everyone in a better place. And ultimately, being a catalyst for exponential growth in our own business. 

Don’t discount the experiences and hardships that have made you who you are today. Remember the kintsugi approach - there is beauty in what makes you, you - flaws, struggles and all. Circumstances may occasionally chip and break you and you might just need some repairs every once in a while. That’s fine. Embrace the brokenness, because it’s the difficult journey that’s made you the beautiful work of art that you are today.