now what?

This week the pace picked up considerably, the energy has changed.  From the news we can see that it is becoming increasingly difficult, especially with the warmer weather, to keep people isolated.  Bars are still closed in France, but people over there have adopted the apérue, apéritif dans la rue, apéritif taken in the street, in order to get out of the house.  Over here we’ve had demonstrations against the restrictions.

Most, but the most vulnerable, are ready to come out of lockdown and pick up where they left off in March, even if it has to be with certain precautions. While I can deal with face masks and strange shopping logistics for a while longer, I seriously miss seeing people in person.  It’s bad for the immune system and our emotional health to be kept away from parents, children, grandkids, and friends.  Zoom is just no substitute.

There was a certain comfort in the slower pace of daily life during the past two months.  Life has been simple, a bit boring of course, but also more relaxed.  Shorter workdays, more sleep, less frenzy.  But as an acquaintance said a few weeks ago, he is not ready for retirement, and neither am I.  Moreover, I am ready for shifts based on our conclusions from this episode (see my silver lining posts from the past few months), I am ready to live again, I am ready to be with people and do business, I’m ready to contribute to meaningful change. 

What has shifted for you during the two lockdown months?  What has changed in your lifestyle or thinking since mid-March about this whole situation and its aftermath?  Will you do anything differently now?

Goodbye COVID-19, welcome new world!

patience needed - silver lining #14

Many things take longer during the current Corona crisis.  With the bank closed, I wait in line for the drive-up.  Since the supermarket only lets in so many people at a time, I wait in line, six feet apart, to get in, and I wait in line to check out, six feet apart, to be assigned to a cash register.  Socializing on Zoom, when everyone talks over each other and the conversation becomes dysfunctional, I have no choice but to be patient with this less-than-perfect medium.  My basement is full of empty egg cartons, empty bottles, and plastic bags that all need to be returned for reuse or recycling.  Sooner or later I will be able to clear this backlog out – patience.  Even Amazon doesn’t currently deliver as fast as it used to during normal times.

We need patience to wait for the governor’s Go to reopen our businesses, to wait for the economy to creep back, to wait for this virus to pass through the population and do its thing.  We need patience during this pregnant pause to see how we will come out the other end.  If you’re looking for a vaccine against the virus, you’ll need to be patient. If you’re looking to go back to school or college, or to return to restaurants and gyms, and to a new normal, you’ll need patience.

We have been used to “instantaneously,” but that just doesn’t work right now. We have been stopped in our tracks. What are you doing with this?

inner beauty

A turkey vulture is not exactly a pretty animal.  Not all animals are, although each has a distinct purpose in nature’s processes, which is beautiful in itself.

Last weekend I noticed a turkey vulture sitting outside our kitchen window in the grass, a most unusual sight.  Big and impressive, dark and a bit ominous, somewhat threating and ugly, and so close.  It stayed there for a while, then it was gone. A bit later I found it elsewhere in the garden, seemingly at rest, then hopping to an adjacent rock, never flying.   Then it was gone again, but it had simply leapt out of sight, to a stone ledge below where I couldn’t see it.  Maybe it wanted to be at peace, left alone.

I became concerned that it had broken its wing and called the Audubon Society to find a wildlife rehabilitator.  I felt sorry for the large bird.  Its ugliness was no longer relevant, its beingness touched a soft spot in my heart.

Just before calling the raptor rehabilitator I looked around to see where it was, but the vulture had disappeared.  I looked all over the place.  Had I been mistaken? Was it ok after all?  Later that afternoon, I saw a vulture at the end of the property flying high up into a tree, and I thought, “Is this my vulture, is it ok?”  

Two days after the incident we were planting new seedlings in the woods and, lo and behold, we found a dead turkey vulture on the ground, under that tree.  I felt sad that I hadn’t been able to save him - once I connected, it became he.  I had felt a connection to this ugly bird.  I didn’t want him to suffer.  Beauty and the Beast, an old theme, inner beauty hidden under an ugly shell.  Repugnance had given way to compassion, and I no longer associated this raptor with carrion, just a being in need of empathy.  A shift (see a previous post on shifting).

from I to we - silver lining #13

You would like to go back to work and earn a living again.  You have elder relatives who may be at risk.  Perhaps your business must open again so you can make money and put food on your table.  You’d like to go back to normal.  You’d love to see your parents again, and your parents would love to see their grandchildren again.  You’d like to go on vacation.  You’d like to send your kids to camp over the summert. You’d like to feel secure out there again.  Or perhaps you’re on the frontlines and don’t feel that your work conditions are safe.  

We all want this virus gone, we all need to put food on our tables, we all want to see our friends in person and send our kids back to school and college.  Yet, our concerns express themselves in polarizing ways because we see different ways to get there.  Some are ok with social distancing, lockdowns, and mouthguards in public in order to help flatten the curve.  Others are urgently concerned about their financial situation and the curtailing of their freedom.  They are two sides of the same coin.  

What’s striking about this virus is that each one of us could unknowingly carry the virus for two weeks, or carry it without ever developing symptoms, and unintentionally infect dozens and even hundreds of others during that time.  That makes each one of us a crucial link in the effort to break the spread of the virus.  Each one of us on a worldwide basis is all of a sudden important in helping to prevent others from getting sick, to prevent the overwhelming of the healthcare system, the food system, the distribution networks.  We have already realized how dependent on foreign supply chains the world is - when too many people in China get sick, economies in many countries slow down.  When too many US meat plant workers get sick, Wendy’s runs out of hamburgers and the supermarkets have to ration meat purchases.  When the neighbor down the road parties, or heads to a crowded beach, her friends, her parents, the meat plant worker, or the supermarket cashier could get sick.

This pandemic is showing us the way from I to We.  No matter how you slice it or dice it, we’re in this together.

deeper, not faster - silver lining #12

Flying over the treetops provides you with an overview of the area and a grand perspective, but not an intricate comprehension of a forest’s ecosystem and its needs. 

In light of all the terrible repercussions of this worldwide virus pandemic, you might be getting tired of the many silver linings.  But since we already read enough bad press in the press, we may as well keep contemplating the other side of the coin here in this blog.

My husband noted that pre-pandemic he was out visiting customers and jobsites so much that it was difficult to process all the data that came in while he was out, in a meaningful way.  He was usually either up very early in the morning, or went back to his desk after dinner to catch up and handle what came in during the day.  Now that he has been home office bound for five weeks and is all caught up, he is able to engage with incoming data, our customers, our projects, and future business opportunities in a much deeper, more meaningful, and ultimately in a more sustainable way.  The pandemic slowdown will likely influence how we do business post-pandemic.  It’s better for our customers, it’s better for us.

Same old same old is exactly what we don’t need after we’re through with this.