I'm pretty good. A lot of tension and uncertainty around whether I am being too careful and what I am missing out on. I don't want to be irresponsible but cases are low in my area and I worry that I am unnecessarily putting strain on irl relationships. I'm not sure if I am annealing, getting stronger, I'd like to be. Some days it feels like I am and some days like I am stalled in place, or worse, that my skills are decaying. Worries acknowledged, I'm incredibly fortunate. Throughout covid times I have had room to roam about, people to talk to, and even a gym to use (talk about lucky).
I know exactly what you mean, there's a weird middle space between "I'm having a challenging experience" and "I am lucky, actually". Both can be true. I'm reminded of the story of a man with a broken arm in the emergency room not allowing himself to complain about the pain, what with the man to his right having two broken arms.
I suspect that even engaging with this thought process and emotional content will drive a kind of annealing. It can't not, really. The stalling and strain is all part of it.
The FOMO is real, though. I really feel for the young people, say first year university students, who are being denied the once in a lifetime university experience that would otherwise be formative. I worry for them.
I share a lot of your experience these past months: a profound and unprecedented isolation, adjusting to working from home full-time, everything about the world and our lives seeming to change, slowly realizing and accepting that things will never be the same — and that that could still, somehow, be a good thing!
Most days I realize and am grateful for my relative privilege. I live with my wife, and we've helped each other through the worst of our individual pandemic breakdowns. Work continues and we've even shifted to a four-day workweek which has been great, we survive, we've reconnected with our creativity (making art and writing a lot more).
It's been difficult, but I agree that "annealing" and a "crucible" are good metaphors for a certain kind of... growth via adversity, new order via unexpected chaos that a lot of us are coping with in these times.
That truck looked lovely, we do miss travelling as we haven't gotten out of our city in months!
I'll share the image that I shared with someone else, which your message also reminded me of: I'm reminded of the story of a man with a broken arm in the emergency room not allowing himself to complain about the pain, what with the man to his right having two broken arms.
I think there's a common trait among the 'lucky' ones to minimise the challenge and focus on the good. It's of course a wonderful thing to focus on the good, but I also wonder if 'allowing the bad' is a necessary part of the annealing. I could be wrong, or at least incomplete, on that one though.
It's lovely seeing so many people comment on reconnecting with a kind of creativity. Perhaps this stems from the additional space that the pandemic has created, but I also wonder if there isn't something deeper. It feels like some people are accessing a fundamental realignment of what they want their lives to look like, accessing some kind of deeper wisdom.
I'm pretty good. A lot of tension and uncertainty around whether I am being too careful and what I am missing out on. I don't want to be irresponsible but cases are low in my area and I worry that I am unnecessarily putting strain on irl relationships. I'm not sure if I am annealing, getting stronger, I'd like to be. Some days it feels like I am and some days like I am stalled in place, or worse, that my skills are decaying. Worries acknowledged, I'm incredibly fortunate. Throughout covid times I have had room to roam about, people to talk to, and even a gym to use (talk about lucky).
I know exactly what you mean, there's a weird middle space between "I'm having a challenging experience" and "I am lucky, actually". Both can be true. I'm reminded of the story of a man with a broken arm in the emergency room not allowing himself to complain about the pain, what with the man to his right having two broken arms.
I suspect that even engaging with this thought process and emotional content will drive a kind of annealing. It can't not, really. The stalling and strain is all part of it.
The FOMO is real, though. I really feel for the young people, say first year university students, who are being denied the once in a lifetime university experience that would otherwise be formative. I worry for them.
I share a lot of your experience these past months: a profound and unprecedented isolation, adjusting to working from home full-time, everything about the world and our lives seeming to change, slowly realizing and accepting that things will never be the same — and that that could still, somehow, be a good thing!
Most days I realize and am grateful for my relative privilege. I live with my wife, and we've helped each other through the worst of our individual pandemic breakdowns. Work continues and we've even shifted to a four-day workweek which has been great, we survive, we've reconnected with our creativity (making art and writing a lot more).
It's been difficult, but I agree that "annealing" and a "crucible" are good metaphors for a certain kind of... growth via adversity, new order via unexpected chaos that a lot of us are coping with in these times.
That truck looked lovely, we do miss travelling as we haven't gotten out of our city in months!
I'll share the image that I shared with someone else, which your message also reminded me of: I'm reminded of the story of a man with a broken arm in the emergency room not allowing himself to complain about the pain, what with the man to his right having two broken arms.
I think there's a common trait among the 'lucky' ones to minimise the challenge and focus on the good. It's of course a wonderful thing to focus on the good, but I also wonder if 'allowing the bad' is a necessary part of the annealing. I could be wrong, or at least incomplete, on that one though.
It's lovely seeing so many people comment on reconnecting with a kind of creativity. Perhaps this stems from the additional space that the pandemic has created, but I also wonder if there isn't something deeper. It feels like some people are accessing a fundamental realignment of what they want their lives to look like, accessing some kind of deeper wisdom.
What have you been creating?