Think back a year.
What were you trying to achieve? What were you trying to avoid? How connected did you feel? (To yourself? To others?) Recall your baseline levels of energy, emotion, and purpose as you hustled through your day.
Notice the contrast today. Yes, it goes without saying we face an urgent, civilization-scale crisis. But just hone in on yourself now. Odds are, unless you’re in healthcare, groceries, or are a parent working from home, the coronavirus has slowed your lifestyle down some. Streamlined priorities, downgraded hustle, and far far less perceived control.
But just because we don’t know what’s going to happen next doesn’t mean we don’t still have agency ; it simply isn’t as effective on external outcomes anymore (not that it ever really was). This isn’t to say “What’s the point? We’re effed.” Nor is it to reaffirm the Western egotism from which we attempt to exert total control over our environment. In the space between giving up in despair or powering through in denial, there is active curiosity. Soulful re-prioritization. Pandemic equanimity.
Having been forcefully relieved of an overwhelming external focus, we find our personal power resourced inwardly. Instead of navigating rush hour, we’re navigating our emotions. We’re off the move and on the mend. We’re not steering the ship, we’re surfing the wave. The more deeply we can accept this, the more grounded we’ll be on our boards, pointed towards the distant shore.
Think ahead a year. Your life then will be a direct result of your awareness, intention, and purpose today. When we re-emerge into the world again, what will you have let go of, and what will you have reclaimed?