Habits and Expectations
When you feel like you need to say something, and aren’t sure what to say!
That headline describes me pretty accurately these days. First, my heart goes out to those whose lives have been lost, to families and caregivers, to all the people who have lost jobs and purpose, and to all the students that have their education and plans turned upside down. Second, you may get an actual voice call from me, so don’t think it is a butt dial.
Wow, this is something we’ve never seen before. No kidding, right?!? How are you? I know some may not have any work, and others are busier than ever. I have to admit, I’m struggling with all that is going on. It can be hard to remember what matters when the world seems to have jerked to a halt. I’m healthy (so far) and the people who are close to me and got the bug, all seem to be coming out the other side. And I’m thankful!
We know that it is not anywhere near being over. And I find it challenging to get my thoughts around it. When will it be over, will it ever be over? Is this Covid19 thing like watching a train wreck in super slow motion? Or, is it the middle of the 1st act of a play, and we don’t know how many acts there are? I would use a sports metaphor too, but I don’t know anything about WWE, so I’m afraid I might get it wrong, or give myself away.
The truth is we are all grieving. We feel as if we have lost certainty. The interruptions to our lives, the challenges to our families, and maybe even the death of someone close are all hard to process. Something that has recently helped me was when I realized that we never had certainty. We live in an uncertain world, where certainty and safety were never guaranteed. What we had were habits and expectations. Some of these habits and expectations have been held very tightly for a very long time.
“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”
― Alexander Pope
For some reason, thinking of habits and expectations allowed me to change my perspective on this pandemic. These perspectives change almost minute by minute, anger, curiosity, guilt, awe, creativity… I am not close to finding the meaning in all of this. Finding meaning takes time, and the meaning will be different for every one of us.
What I choose to do is take this as an opportunity to connect and re-connect with people. The virus has shown us that we are all connected, in ways that we may have forgotten or not expected. So please, reach out to me and others and know that I am going to do the same.
Thanks for reading this far. Below are links that I found interesting and grounding. I hope you do too.
Ted
