Life as we know it, has been cancelled.
Birthdays, gigs, shows, graduations, school plays, parties, celebrations, holidays…everything we were looking forward to, everything we were building up to, working towards, just…gone.
Instead we are stuck, living in the most uncertain time in our living collective memory.
No plans can be made. No flights booked. No dinner reservations. No doggie groomers or dental hygienist. Even brunch cannot be planned. It’s devastating.
It’s the antithesis of everything we know. Instead of fast, we must go slow. Instead of now, we must think and act… later.
Instant gratification has been denied.
In a global story that is unfolding moment by moment, day by day, we are being forced to live in the same way. Moment to moment.
All we have is now. And in the now, we have to choose how we use this time that has suddenly appeared in our lives. This time that had already been spent, but has now been returned to us, like a strange, unexpected refund.
It’s clear that our world will be forever altered by this experience, but how each of us choose to use this unexpected gift of time and space will determine exactly who we will be at the end of this crisis.
Will you spend it analyzing the situation, breaking it down, trying to anticipate the next devastating blow? Will you be preparing mentally and physically for the worst case scenario, taking stock, stocking up.
Or will you use these quiet moments to reconnect with all the people you’ve been ‘meaning to call’? Will you find new ways to care for your modern-world-weary mind and body? Will you allow yourself the exquisite gifts of pleasure, play, pampering or wild creativity? Will you invest your time in learning a new skill you always said you would? Will you start cleaning and purging and ignite your journey to minimalism? Will you simply catch up on the sleep you’ve missed for the last year and a half?
At the end of this crisis, we will all have lost things — money, opportunities, even loved ones. But there will also be some things to be gained.
Our world demands that we put away childish things, that we do not play or indulge in pleasurable, joyful or silly pursuits. Our world makes it easy to hide from the things that truly set us alight or take down the box on the shelf marked, ‘when I have more time’.
Instead, it distracts us with so much fluff and mindless consumerism.
But, when we are left alone and it gets ever so quiet, there’s only so much Netflix we can watch before the lights in the back of our minds and souls begin to flicker and the parts of ourselves that feel neglected or suppressed start to stir. ‘Do you see me?’ says the artist you have left behind. ‘Do you hear me?’ whispers the wound that hasn’t healed. ‘Do you remember me?’ cries the lonely heart that craves connection.
Then there it is… something to be created, addressed, felt, expressed or brought to life.
And, from experience I will tell you, do not ignore the whispers! Do not drown them out with online shopping and Insta-scrolling! Because while it may be a joyful process or a painful one, it’s a process that will see you evolve and that, after all, is the purpose of life.
So, who will you be at the end of all of this?