Our social isolation has granted us a wish I have expressed myself and heard expressed by many: I wish I had more freedom and flexibility to work from home, have more time to do what I want to do. True we have to be on many Zoom meetings, but we are participating in them with the luxury of our surroundings and we do have the luxury of some “extra” time.
However, after a few weeks of this working from home due to the coronavirus, I am certainly experiencing the restlessness with this unknown uncertainty, as I’m sure others are.
As I sit with this feeling, I try to unpack its reasons. Should I not welcome what I wished for, is it because I have no control on the reason for this time and flexibility, is it because it is not on my terms?
Once again I turn to my touchstone, when things are difficult or hard, turn to curiosity!
My walk today was clouded with these thoughts. Perhaps this feeling was because I felt restricted, trapped similar to the caterpillar in its cocoon or chrysalis. Ahh, then immediately the image of the cocoon or chrysalis was followed by the image of the butterfly beautiful and free flying around me.
There is was! Metamorphosis, a transformation of my mindset was needed to endure this time of uncertainty.
Why should I waste all my energy, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual to fight something that I have no control over? What would be possible if I welcomed this uncertain time with anticipation, with kindness, with love and with the unconditional surrender that all I need to do is my duty in the best way possible given the current circumstances.
I felt a sense of gratitude, renewed hope and energy. I was reminded of the vision of the New Normal I envisioned and had written about in the early stages of this social distancing.
I made a mental list of what I could do to be intentional and authentic to welcome this time. I am starting by writing and sharing this.
I plan to make a list of the “things” I wished I had the time for. As I started thinking about these, house cleaning and organizing were on the top and these made me chuckle, I realized that wishing for time was a way for me to justify not doing these tasks which truly speaking I do not like.
The other wish was to catch up on reading for pleasure, now this one I welcomed. So I will starting by cleaning “a little” each day and devote time to read the books I want to, starting with rereading A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life by Parker J Palmer, one of my favorites.
I am smiling and happy!
The butterfly said to the sun, “They can’t stop talking about my transformation. I can only do it once in my lifetime. If only they knew, they can do it at any time and in countless ways.” —Dodinsky
#REFLECT: How many times have you transformed so far?
How is the coronavirus changing the way you think of self-care, community and resilience? As this challenging time unfolds, I am posting a daily quote on this blog with a reflection prompt. Please join in the conversation here or on Twitter with your thoughts or about what you are doing for self-care and care of others. My new book explores these ideas too: Resilient Threads: Weaving Joy and Meaning into Well-Being.
Before answering the question, it is important to know the difference between transformation and change.
Transformation, which metamorphosis is supposed to achieve, is an irreversible process. As in the quote, the butterfly says to the sun, metamorphosis is once in a lifetime event. A butterfly cannot metamorphose back to pupa or an ant to an egg. Metamorphosis of mindset can happen; however, it is an exceedingly rare event.
Change on the other hand is the law of nature and is necessary in the scheme of things. However, it is a reversible process. Everyone changes every now and then in every aspect, physically, mentally as well as spiritually. One can change the looks, the views and opinions, beliefs and even faith, as often as one likes or on the drop of a hat, as the saying goes. Even the mindset is subject to change.
There is a famous saying that grass is always greener on the other side. One craves for what one does not have, and having have that, one gets satiated very soon, and longs for change again. A tiny miniscule of a particle called C.V. has once again proved the truth of this statement. In the rat race of normal lifestyle, everyone dreams for change, keeps postponing things for when one has time is on hand. Now that the lifestyle has changed completely to the opposite, everyone seems to have started missing what they were used to, everyone wants to revert back to what they believed to be normal. If this change of normal to new normal can last for long, people will get used to it too. After all, people did live without the digital era, the internet, telecommunication and cyberspace!
No one wants to go back to the analog era or the pre-digital era. May be the present new normal will sustain and will become normal in due course.
No one welcomes uncertainty; on the contrary they dread it. However, once the uncertainty inevitably becomes certainty, people transform accordingly. Perhaps in due course, the mindsets too will irreversibly change and transform to accept the new reality.
As for now, I and many others like me, are getting adapted to the new norms and will live with them once they become the norms for everyday life; be it social distancing, face masking, telecommunicating, visual conferencing or internet shopping.
I do welcome, even the uncertain times, so long as I can practice the virtues of love and kindness. However, I am not willing to surrender to them unconditionally, a privilege reserved only to the God of my beliefs.
As for the question on the quote, I have never transformed myself. However, if it refers to change rather than transform, I confess that I have changed myself umpteen times over, in long years of my life.