Silver Linings, Hope and Time
I wrote this blog post back in late 2020 or early 2021, in the thick of the pandemic. And as I consider the world today after we have emerged from that time, and so many things have actually ‘gone back to normal’, I feel my words still ring true.
Because although the world has gone back to many things we didn’t or couldn’t do only a few years ago, and we have repeated old (good and bad) patterns, we are also different. We are not the same, and the profound effect of the Covid era is still coursing in our veins. Particularly for those who had any sort of awakening during that time - an awaking of spirituality, an awakening of what it means to be successful and fulfilled and that previously those definitions didn’t always equate, and an awakening of compassion and understanding.
Though I do think we have very quickly forgotten some of the important lessons that time afforded us, there are still so many who I see have really shifted, a collective shift if you will, towards a new paradigm of redefining our lives by our own standards, desires, and needs rather than the ‘shoulds’ of generations past.
[Original post below]
With so much at a standstill in this world, and (theoretically) so much time on our hands, I have been thinking a lot about the cycles of life, and time, and how they affect our perspectives so deeply.
I see a great deal of messages, images, opinions, articles, put out there daily regarding the state of the world. Some are full of humor and irony, others full of anger and blame, and still others simply reporting the facts of someone’s day to day life. I have seen so many posts and videos of hope and inspiration, and still others simply continuing as they were before with no real change in their outward (online) demeanor.
And as I take all this in, I realize that I have a hope for THIS time. That maybe “time” no longer is the factor that inspires us to change as people. Because we do change with time. Life provides experiences that shake us to our core, that bring us heightened joys and shattering sorrows, but often when we’re younger, we don’t quite realize the depths of this - we focus on things like beauty and money and achieving - all worthy things, but none that actually encompass the truth that life holds: that beauty is not just found in youth, that money is important in providing ease and freedom but it cannot replace the things that set your soul afire, and that achieving is only helpful if you are gaining what you truly want and not what others have taught you to desire. Maybe, though, we have been given a gift - this “time” that we now have can help us to reflect on the path our lives have taken, to make changes (wanted or unwanted) to how we live, appreciate, feel, express, and judge, without actually having to take as much time as life normally needs to help these perspectives and changes unfold.
I cannot compete with the youth and beauty of a 25 year old, nor do I want to. My life has taken turns and given me experiences that have left extra weight, and scars both physical and emotional, but it has also given me a depth that I could not have dreamt of having - the beauty of someone that is so much more than a pretty face or a toned body. My financial well being is no longer about the amount of money in the bank, but the freedom it provides me to live a life I find fulfilling - to me, that is the ability to discern what is truly meaningful to me, and being able to bring that into my life. And to achieve - well, now I understand that achieving is something that cannot be measured by external accolades but rather by how proud I am of the choices I’ve made, the things I have done, the things I have created, and the impact I have had.
Perhaps this pandemic has provided that silver lining, that “time” to see all of these realizations without the years that normally come with it. I know I speak from a place of privilege, there are those that are suffering now - be it from a lack of care, a loss of a job, loss of health, loneliness, abuse, fear, insecurity - this list goes on. But I hope that still this time can serve as a catalyst for so many, to change, to heal, to stay or leave (whichever is that which makes their life better), to clear, to face, to create, to build, to move beyond the confines of life as they knew it. I hope that this gift of “time” we have been given brings humanity in a new, inspiring, and better direction.