If there was ever a time the human collective was wishing not here, not this, this is one of them.
As we cautiously wade through the unknown, it is easy to let our emotions command the throne and dictate our actions. Many of us are struggling with the consequences of the current situation, and struggle brings to the fore intense emotion. Thoughts about our health, our finances, our day-to-day normalcy, and what the future might hold have swirled in our heads more vigorously now than ever before.
We can respond with fury and frustration at the unfairness of it all, not just the nature of this fallout but the handling of it by governing bodies. After all, so much is at stake. Our livelihoods. Our lives.
We can marinate in fear and despair and stay paralyzed, if only because it feels safer not to do anything.
Or, we can acknowledge this tempest of emotions and give them space but not get tangled up in them (at least, not for too long), reminding ourselves that intense emotion only clouds our thinking and impedes clarity. We can start by accepting, by saying, “Yes, this sucks. So what can I do about it?”
This is not a big, grand question with the answer to solve all our problems, but an attempt to step back, and ask it in tiny ways, over and over again.
The perpetual desire to be somewhere else means not accepting what is.
It is not about climbing the mountain in one giant leap. It is not about finding a way around, or turning a blind eye. Nor is it about waiting for someone or something to blow the mountain apart and clear your way. It will only become larger the longer you delay.
It is taking a few steps at a time—right here, right now— so the mountain doesn’t feel so big, and you don’t feel as small. It is about moving forward and upward, and learning, perhaps unexpectedly, that you did indeed need to be on this very climb and it was worth the effort.
We cannot control the mountain. We never could. But we can always control how and when to start the climb. Here. Now.
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