Lockdown or Freed Up?
The power of words in defining our reality.
Words have energy. Some evoke a reaction in the body like a punch to the gut or a harness around your chest constricting you. Others wash over you like a gentle spring breeze and calm every cell in your body.
Lockdown. Say it. Lockdown. What does that feel like in your body? Light and airy or tight and confining? For me, the word feels like there are bars over my windows and a deadbolt on my door. Yes, scary indeed. Now take a word like Freed (Up). How does that make you feel? Like a bird taking flight for the first time? Many people have been freed up from their “normal” life and obligations and get to stay at home and have a time out. A shift in perspective changes everything.
Understandably, it’s not that simple and there are many more things at play here, but bear with me.
As I had anticipated, some interesting things started happening as people were told to stay home and quarantine. Yes, we’ve heard about the hoarding of food and supplies and loss of jobs and all the other side effects of this temporary “new normal”, but there is an upside. We’ve woken up to what really matters and have been granted the time to review our “past” lives from a new perspective.
Dr. Joe Dispenza (www. drjoedispenza.com), who is an expert on the power of the mind to create a new reality, was recently interviewed on this period of time and stated that what we are experiencing, in essence, is a sort of retreat, but in the comfort of our own homes. Granted, not everyone has the most ideal situation at home and many would call this pause anything but a “retreat”, so I am not assuming it’s all aromatherapy baths and Zoom yoga classes followed by an afternoon nap, but for those who do have a comfortable place to hunker down, it can be a reprise from an otherwise hectic life.
In addition to being stripped of our daily routines and oftentimes taken- for-granted freedoms of going out when we desire and getting what we want when we want it, we’ve also been stripped of our patterns of behaviors and thoughts about what we think we need and what we value.
By shifting our definition of what we are experiencing, we shift our perception of it as well. We become less of a victim in viewing what has been “taken” from us and are able to see what we have gained.
Here are some of the things I view as “gains”…
We have rediscovered our passions that have been neatly placed in box in the back of the closet since we are “way too busy”. We are gardening and getting back in touch with nature and even started growing our own vegetables. We have started painting again and love how the hours fly by without us realizing it. We started reading again. We dug up those knitting needles to finish that sweater. And maybe, just maybe, we discovered a talent we never even knew we had!
We are spending more time outside in nature. Instead of working out in a gym with headphones on not interacting or communicating with others around them, people are walking and biking, sometimes with family members, and slowing down, taking in the scenery in front of them. Connecting with the elements such as fresh air, sunlight and the natural beauty of flowers and trees helps ground us to the earth and reminds us that we are all organisms living on a living organism.
We are becoming more interested in boosting our immune system and preventative health rather than solely relying on the medical system to cure us. We have been conditioned to seek out medical intervention when something “is not right”. When all of the sudden the state of your health can literally be life or death, you wake up and realize you can actually play a role in whether you maintain your good health or become a target for some previously unknown virus. Taking our health for granted was a luxury for many but those days are gone. Supplements for boosting the immune system such as Zinc, Elderberry, Vitamins C & D quickly starting going out of stock as people rushed to arm themselves with virus-fighting nutrients. I believe this will now become a standard practice for many.
We are cooking meals at home instead of eating out all the time and are enjoying discovering new recipes. When our lives become so full that eating boils down to whatever is convenient, we miss (or have lost) the joy that can come from mixing ingredients by hand and preparing meals for ourselves and loved ones. The meal then becomes more of an event than just putting food in our stomachs.
Families are doing activities together instead of rushing around with our fully packed schedules. I’ve heard from a few sources that puzzles sold out quickly in many stores and are hard to find on-line. When was the last time a family got together to do puzzles? Or played a game of chess? We are re-discovering activities which don’t require technology and can actually have real, in-person experiences together. That being said, there are many who probably want to run away from home right about now…
We are connecting on deeper levels by having conversations on the phone instead of quick text messages. People are craving voice-to-voice contact since basic social interaction has been reduced to a quick run to the grocery store where everyone is wearing a mask and afraid to get too close. We are appreciating any sort of in-person interaction even if it’s just at the check-out counter. Since there is no socializing other than filling essential needs, we are finding other ways to connect with people and realize how vital this is to our mental well-being. This is especially true if you live alone I like do and spend way too much time asking your cat what he thinks.
We are reevaluating our work lives. Since so many people have had their 9–5 weekday work schedules put on indefinite “temporary hold” many are able to view what they are doing with their lives from an objective perspective that only comes when one is removed from it. Suddenly working 14 hours a day seems not only unnecessary but undesirable. Or what about staying in a job which doesn’t feed your soul or contribute to the betterment of society? People are having the opportunity to examine what they are doing with their lives and how they are spending their time. New business ideas are being born and innovative ways of looking at how we can make a living and actually enjoy having a more balanced life are blossoming like flower buds after a winter’s thaw. We are looking at what we value in a whole new light and how we spend the bulk of our day is being spotlighted more than ever.
We are more relaxed about how we appear in public and are allowing our “real” natural selves to show up without apologizing. It is so wonderful to me to see newscasters doing their own hair and make-up as they go on-air from their homes. People are appearing on social media with their grey roots and minimal make-up. There is something more intimate in the casualness of people not being afraid of being judged, because they know that just about everyone else is wearing the same pair of sweatpants they wore yesterday. It really doesn’t matter who you are or how much money you have, if you can’t get your hair professionally dyed or your make-up perfectly applied, you are just going to look like everyone else.
We are setting aside our long term goals in exchange for honoring our present needs. What does my body want today? How about a walk in the fresh air and sunshine. A comforting meal to nourish this body that is keeping me healthy and alive. What does my soul desire? A phone or video chat with my best buddy across the country? What does my mind crave? Perhaps curling up with a book and some tea for hours on a random Tuesday afternoon. By paying attention to what we know, that we have this day and releasing the unknown of tomorrow, we keep our spirit alive instead of dreading another day of “lockdown”
When the things we consider necessities are jeopardized we realize what we can do without and what’s really important. In the past when we wanted something we didn’t think twice that it might not be available or that we might have to wait on a very long line to get it, or worse yet, not have it delivered the next day! So many things we previously took for granted such as food shopping, browsing in stores, daily social interacts in playgrounds, beaches, coffee shops or even just running out to get what you want when you want it are now either severely restricted or not allowed. It’s been a huge wake-up call to many that life can change on a dime.
What is the insight gained from all of this? We are being given this “pause” for a reason. You can choose to view lockdown as being held in a prison of your mind until it is lifted and life in the outside world resumes in some fashion, or we can decide to see this time as a valuable gift like a reset button to a world and life that may not have actually been as ideal as we have thought. Our ‘returning to normal” may consist of mourning the loss of our lives in the past as we adjust and reevaluate. How can our lives be improved? How can we make the best use of this short time we have on earth? How can we be kinder to each other and the planet? And probably the most important, how can we find ways to enhance and enrich our precious resources such as time, health, relationships and our physical environment, rather than deplete them.
