"What we wished would have happened is usually a beautiful thing. But if we keep lugging it around long after the situation is gone in a different direction, it becomes a burden and a weight that holds us back. Acceptance of what is - set us free" Molly from Wild Goose Counselling.
So far, New Zealand has gone through four lockdowns. Some nations have been in lockdown for the more significant part of 2020 and into 2021. What does lockdown look like for you?
It is safe to say here in New Zealand, we have managed and isolated ourselves. We are a small country surrounded by water; once New Zealand shut the borders, we have had some control over the extensive pandemic.
Covid 19 has become a reference point in time, a timeline in our history that separates a time before Covid (BC) and after Covid(AC). It is sudden, like a rip that sweeps you off your feet and carries you on a path that is not what you intended or planned.
I find myself looking back, waiting, and even anticipating life to go back to BC - before Covid time. Where social distancing, lockdowns, and quarantines were not usual terms in our daily vocabulary. A time where sneezing was just something humans did. Nowadays, the thought of a sneeze or cough can cause stares and frowns from the public. I miss seeing my family and friends. I miss traveling and making plans.
Accepting our new Covid present world is tough. With every lockdown, I struggle to put life on hold to cater to online learning, a very active toddler, focus on my business and home. I keep imagining times will change and hopefully go back to the way things were. Will they go back? Am I naive?
Something as notable and life-altering as Covid 19 is unquestionably changing the world. This pandemic impacts our health systems, businesses, education systems, physical and mental health, our very futures. No one asked for it; still, it is here. Everyone is doing what they think is best, as individuals and as a nation. This situation is like no other we have ever faced. It is too easy to fall into the trap of stats, data, and an ocean of opinions and debates. So much information, but the truth seldom is found.
What do we do now? Where to from here?. A feeling of overwhelm and uncertainty sinks in.
Austrian neurologist and psychologist Victor Frankl, author of "Mans search for meaning," demonstrates his time as a prisoner at a Nazi concentration camp. It describes "Logotherapy," meaning an individual's primary motivational force is to find meaning in life.
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way" Victor Frankl. It would take an incredible mindset and attitude to see further than the gas chambers, barbed wire fences, death, and the unknown.
It is challenging to focus on what is essential when uncertainties lie ahead. But perhaps therein lies the answer. When there is so much uncertainty, we must set our gaze on the goal, on the things of importance. The only actions we can control. A mindful shift from lockdowns to locking in our target. Though our circumstances are complex and unique to our situations, can we derive meaning from a time such as this? That meaning gives us hope. With intention, we can step into the future.
This life is fleeting, and there's nothing like a pandemic to magnify our mortality. If nothing else can change our circumstances, we can undoubtedly change our mindset and attitudes. Give meaning to moments in our days and set our vision for our future. Even a time such as this will change, to what, I don't know the answer but change it will.
Helen Keller said - "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
During this unprecedented time, I urge you to lock in your target on things you can control. Add meaning to those things in your life that matter. With every moment we are alive: meaning is a gift worth pursuing.
Love
Natasha