I remarked to a friend last night that this thing has gone through so many interesting phases in the past two months, yet it has now landed in the least interesting - and perhaps most inevitable place - apathy. First came the TP/Hand Sanitizer craze, then the Shock and Awe period, followed by the Zoom Hangout moment, the Age of Compassionate Crowdfunding, the time of the Social Media Tip Jar, the rise of the Sourdough Bread era, and now, like clockwork, the epoch of Outrage, Cynicism, Conspiracy and Division.
As we all struggle to make sense of a senseless time, many of us are doing what we can to confirm our suspicions, biases, agendas, and ideological comfort zones. This grand effort to hold on to any semblance of normalcy is not coincidental. Between algorithms and basic human behavior, we've found a way to politicize a situation into competing sides, with all of the aggressive "owning" and "snow-flaking" and "fake news" nonsense of the lowest common denominator way of thinking. Just a few weeks ago, we marveled at the universality and human beauty of this genuinely unusual situation - remember the Italians singing from their balconies! - so much for a great moment of discovery and enlightenment.
What if we just didn't, this time around? What if we rejected the courses of action that stick us to our corners and rile up our fight or flight reflexes, and instead choose to remain in a place of compassionate optimism?
What if we built new muscles, instead of atrophying into stasis? Given a choice between action and inaction, the human body improves with one, and disintegrates with the other. Dormancy and hibernation renders our muscles weak and ineffectual, but a muscle gets stronger when it's pushed to its extremes and then allowed to heal - effort, time, self-care, and rest turns all of that stress and discomfort into strength and definition.
Imagine what would happen if we prioritized effort, time, self-care, and rest at this moment, instead of using all of our energy to prove our rightness and our certainty. Imagine if, instead of resisting this moment, we embraced it for all of its *uncertainty* and used it to create a new normal driven by our own energy instead of the bluster of chaotic wind that continually blows us around.
Are there fears to be found in the unknown variables of the present and near future? Absolutely. Is it terrifying to know that we can easily hurt - or be hurt by - ourselves, our loved ones, and total strangers through selfish behavior and a billion particles of invisible danger? You bet it is. Is it beyond exhausting and emotionally overwhelming to know that any of us could get sick and slip away within a few days, leaving others with pain and confusion? Unquestionably.
Yet these are the realities we face on a daily basis - virus, or not. This present phase, when we could be using this lesson in human fragility to elevate ourselves and others with gratitude, appreciation and evolution, is instead seeing too many of us grow ever colder, darker, more divided, more self-certain, more doubtful of others, more angry and more judgmental.
As is the case with so many of our daily experiences, it all comes down to mindset. We choose how we react to things. We can choose how we react to this, as well.