“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.” – Khalil Gibran
It’s almost 7 weeks since I’ve been in the city. Since I’ve left my home for more than to buy food. I’ve joked not much has changed in my life – except food shopping is potentially life-threatening.
I’m still not craving anything except for the world to be a better place. For humans to be a better people.
I can’t help but chart the ebbs and flows of narration. It can be simply summed up – if you have a self-absorbed boring pointless life out of quarantine. It’ll look the same in lockdown. If you are craving a holiday from now – it’s probably not an abnormal feeling. If you don’t have equality in your relationship. That probably looks worse now too. If there are children in the mix, one of you is feeling aggrieved doing more than your fair share. If you don’t normally go for a walk on the beach. You’re probably the one stamping along in despair unable to smile and say hello. You’re only out because you haven’t got anything better to do. If you spend hours with a fishing rod happily. You’re still out from sunrise to sunset. I’ve seen you now as soon as the fishing season has started. You’ve been waiting for the season to arrive while others are still oblivious of the swallows.
And now anyone who says you can gain productive, harmony and happiness right now is a very unpopular bread of being. I can still achieve this though only when next doors dogs shut up. Because I’ve nowhere to go to get away. No escape. As I read story after story I’m left with a sense that this is how many feel about their own children. Was I really the only child capable of self-entertainment?
And you know the reality right now with the beach invasion and chaos here I don’t have any more constructive hours in the day. I re-recorded several sequences of a 4-minute podcast earlier. Because even 5 consecutive quiet minutes was beyond hope. But then it’s partly my own fault as I got up late.
So this weeks ebb message is how unpopular it is to motivate during a pandemic.
The irony is most of what you are currently achieving is not by choice. If you’d been asked to shut down travel, tourism, manufacturing, inequality and the commute to save the planet – you never would have done so.
If you can package just a lesson or two here;
There is a great economic cost to saving our environment from ourselves. Yes, our lives really have to get simple.
Having children is a great investment of yourself. But they have always been capable of playing by themselves until now. The more you control, micromanage and seek perfection – the more attention needed. There’s a direct correlation.
If you really can’t sit down and make a list of all you’ve done, learnt and achieved in the last few weeks – you better stop making excuses. No matter how unpopular that might be.
I can’t be the only one who’s developed a deep appreciation for the golden moments of calm. I only needed 4 minutes silence this morning and got 44 to write this. Everyone is back from the bottle bank- the most exciting thing we can do.
Naoisé 17th April 2020