This past week was an odd one ending with the declaration of a national state of emergency as the coronavirus continues to spread quickly throughout the world and the United States. With large gatherings canceled and people concerned about heading out to bars and restaurants, most people are spending more time at home than usual. This next week will likely mean thousands of Americans work from home when they usually don’t. Many schools are closed and learning is going online. None of this sounds like it could be positive. In fact, in many ways it is very clearly negative. Yet in this darkness, I believe there is a bright side to the self-quarantine and social distancing that is happening in many places right now in America.
A Time to Reset and Focus on the Essential
I am no stranger to being busy. Even in the last few months, I have struggled to eliminate non-essential activities that suck my energy or are not the most important things to me. I’ve always struggled with trying to take advantage of every opportunity and achieve every goal at once. I spread myself too thin and am constantly on the go. I know I am not the only one in America who feels this way. Life in America is fueled by coffee and driven by anxiety.
Recently I listened to the audiobook of Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. The book reaffirmed what I’d already been learning and desperately trying to adapt into my life. Less is more. Focus on the things that are most important to you and eliminate everything else.
I’ve been working through this process over the past few weeks and making plans to eliminate the non-essential from my life. There are things I like doing, but I’ve decided to cut back on or eliminate completely. There is a loss, but I gain even more. I gain time to write, read, sing, play guitar, but I also am gaining a sense of freedom over my time. I get to choose to not overbook myself and stop saying, “Life’s been so busy.”
Now to the bright side of this health situation. The coronavirus epidemic, for many, will force people to slow down and stop being so busy because they literally can’t do things. I sincerely hope this allows thousands of people who feel overwhelmed and overburdened to ask themselves whether what they were doing was truly essential. Depending on how long this drags out, we could see a massive shift in our society because habits that were formed will have changed. Some of those habits may never return. An unexpected consequence of a world-changing event that could have unexpected positives.
A Lesson from My Cat
Admittedly this next point is maybe a little silly, but a good perspective anyways. Over the past week as we’ve had massive market drops, panic at retailers, and lots of worries over what will happen in the next few weeks. Not surprisingly, my cat has not noticed any of this. He still focuses on his essential list for the day.
1. Wake up parents so they feed him by whacking their doorstop.
2. After eating, stare out the window and watch the cars pass and birds fly around.
3. Nap.
4. Whine to parents to make them cuddle and play with him.
5. Nap.
6. Run around the house like crazy playing with everything and jumping on anything his parents will let him.
7. Nap.
8. Clean entire body from head-to-toe.
9. Extended nap.
10. Eat more food.
When finished, repeat above actions.
Basically nothing has changed in his world. It feels like everything has changed in ours, but there seems to me to be a ton of comfort in the simplicity of a cat’s life and how not understanding these outside events allows him to just let everything go. I’m actually a bit jealous.
Closing Thoughts
I don’t plan to write much more about the effect of the coronavirus on the world. We’ve been bombarded with information on the topic everywhere we go. As this situation unfolds and we see the long-term effects, I hope and pray everyone can reflect positively on the opportunity to slow down and spend more time at home and maybe even develop some new habits. I know it’s not ideal, but it is the reality, so why not make the best of it?