Although I chose a profession which deals in ‘changing’, I am a very conservative person, firmly set in my ways. Perhaps that is the very reason I am in the OD profession, specializing in my own disability.
I try to maintain constant routines: eat at the same restaurants, maintain long friendships, maintain a very small wardrobe, walk my dog on the same path, vacation in the same places, listen to the same songs on my very long list of spotify favourites.
Even Pat had noticed once that I was ‘set in my ways’.
Change is usually foisted upon me by game changers.
These game changers have included receiving a phone call in 1987 from my late wife at work that the diagnosis of her dermatology biopsy was malignant melanoma, and that I needed to come home immediately because she was on her way to the hospital for an existion. Hadassah died 6 years later.
Another game changer was my first few days in basic training when I understood how difficult this was to be for me. And it was very, very difficult because I had been assigned to ‘May recruitment’ which consisted of people with very poor levels of education, minor juvenile delinquents, and people who grew up in tough areas. My life in basic training was hell on earth.
Naturally becoming a parent was a massive game changer, and still requires constant change and adaptation. And becoming a good parent, well, that’s a constant game changer which never stops to challenge any person, set in their ways or more adaptive. (I have probably not received high marks, yet ).
And of course, corona is a major, big time game changer. Getting old is something that I have found challenging to adapt to, but I have come to somehow accept my growing limitations, which mainly consist of slowing down, just a bit, due to aches and pains. I have even somehow adapted to seeing doctors from time to time, despite my abject terror at every single visit to an MD. But I cannot seem to get used to the changes that corona has imposed.
The mask, the distancing, the fear, the closing down of theaters and adult education, the death of air travel, the collapse of our government’s ability to function, the endless flow of bad news from fake sources and horrendous panic-mongering journalists, the inability of many sectors of our population to take responsibility , the sickening politicians -it’s truly ghastly and emotionally crippling.
Yes, there are all kinds of people who manage to ‘make the best of a bad situation’, and I guess I do as well, but it is a very dismal and tough period which is not going away. That’s the real rub. It’s not like having pneumonia (3 times) when I was reassured ‘in a few weeks you will be fine’.
Because Corona is not going away, I find that I need to do one of two things, neither of which is very helpful-to think about it, and not to think about it. Thinking about it gets me nowhere and not thinking about it is impossible, because there is no respite.
For those who are making lemonade out of lemons, enjoy the drink. I am still struggling for a way to adapt to the new reality, which I detest.
You have said it very well, Allon. This one has really changed the game. Another example of the ripple effects of corona that is on many of our minds and hearts right now is the opening of schools in September. Just a few weeks away. What will happen? Will schools stay virtual? or will they dare to open only to have an outbreak, and be forced to close?
This, too, shall pass. The question is “When?” I think it’s when we have a vaccine. My major concern is whether or not our social systems can continue to function until then. My greatest fear is the collapse of social order.
I used to think of the expression – “The world is like a mirror – frown at it and it frowns back at you; smile and it smiles too” – as a kind of life idiom. Then this pandemic hit, to go along with so many other challenges. We all face game changing episodes in our lives, some so weighty they etch indelibly into the mind. I find now it is even more important than ever to count our blessings, protect and cherish what is really important, and focus on a future that has more light at the end of a tunnel than we are seeing now. I do not like the expression “this too will pass” or the expression “we’re all in this together” because they are too trite and avoid the cold reality that human nature is frail and now so devoid of spiritualty and something to believe in so we let the sands of time carry us. You know in OD the importance of leadership – we really need it from somewhere.
Great input, Sam