“The deeper we try to dig into space, time, and the unknown, the closer we get to where we originally started.”
― Rajesh, “Random Cosmos”
I am showing my age. This reference is to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Yes, for those of you who are up on this sort of thing that was 1975! Anyway, the lyrics to “Time Warp” came straight into my head when someone asked me “How are you doing?”
I first needed to figure out what day it was (Tuesday), in what week (week 20 of the social distancing), month five and no end in sight.
“How are you doing?” could be a very loaded question but my answer is mostly the same. I am doing well. I have my health, I have meaningful work, my friends and family are all healthy and safe, I walk the beach with my two dogs, followed by the cat and joined by a neighbor and her dog…..and I am grateful. I may be wearing the same daily uniform of yoga pants and comfortable shirt and shoes but I have a roof over my head, fresh summer food to prepare, goals to pursue, and dreams of what is to come. I rise early and run out of steam in the late afternoon as each day feels like ten and a week passes in a flash. I run from the time I rise until I cannot run further.
We are filling our days with more than usual in extra emails and Zoom calls, blended with child, elder, and animal care, and house-hold responsibilities — all lumped together without too many boundaries.
I really appreciate my friend’s Facebook pages where they post nifty art projects, and alfresco dinning adventures, or simply photos of their beautiful gardens, reminding me that there is more to life that just ‘head down, work the list’.
Daily errands take longer because of drive-through cues and limits on how many people can be in a store at any one time. Still, I am grateful. I am in the race for our well-being, for our recovery, for our economic future, and finding our way through to the other side of the pandemic (amicably, if possible).
I mentioned in recent blogs that it is a physical and mental race we are running. Keeping ourselves well and healthy is key. Maintaining focus and a positive mindset are also essential.
If I worry too much about making the most of each day, I may overwork myself and fall out of balance, risking my mental and physical health.
If I concern myself too much about how quickly time is passing and each day getting older — versus relishing each moment — I may age myself just by worrying.
If I worry too much about how much longer we need to travel this pandemic road together, I may miss the special moments each day brings.
I asked a friend this morning if she also felt like she was trapped in a Time Warp? I could hear her smiling over the phone and then she joined me in a chorus of the song made famous by the movie.
I appreciate not being alone in all my experiences and observations. That is what makes this experience so unique. It is a collective experience. No one is immune from the effects — though we are each touched differently.
I think I need to shift my perspective and simplify my approach.
In the middle of the endurance race when the crowds have thinned and it is just you and road and miles to go maybe the tune that I should be humming is: ”Slow down, you’re moving too fast. You got to make the morning last.”
I think it is time to ease back on the throttle; to keep making the lists, accomplishing goals, shouldering the responsibilities, but accepting that we have been given time. Each of us has the same 24 hours each day. Before the pandemic, we never got everything accomplished. So why put that pressure on ourselves now?
It is time for understanding priorities. It is time for being soft with ourselves. It is time to enjoy the pleasures of summer and friendships and family.
As long as I get up every day and put one foot in front of the other, I will make progress and the end will come into view sometime in the future.
I will embrace the Time Warp feeling, do the Time Warp Again dance and find the funny in the weird and worrisome and wonderful challenge we all share.
“How are you feeling?”
“How do you answer that question?”
Leslie
“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough…
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once…
Time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live.”
— Albert Einstein