As we navigate and adjust to the first major world event since World War II, I wanted to write another post on impermanence, because as painful and long as the last 2 weeks have been, nothing lasts forever. I wrote 2 separate posts (Part 1 & Part 2) on impermanence about 3 years ago just before I set off for my solo travel journey…ahh, the memories of that life-changing trip brings a smile to my face every time. It’s safe to say that this pandemic is going to change the course of history, both for bad and good.

With the country shut down for the last 15+ days, I feel like the lights were abruptly shut off for everyone as we are collectively adjusting to the change that no one could have expected or predicted. Both literally and figuratively we are adjusting to the darkness and some would say ‘depression.’ Having worked through my own dark days, I’ve learned that finding the ‘light’ is the easiest and fastest way to get yourself out of the darkness. I found myself feeling better these last few days by limiting news consumption, prioritizing exercise, connecting with friends through video chat, and writing. These are my source of light that has helped me get out of the darkness, along with these things from a previous post on happiness, what’s it to you…?  We are all unique individuals with our own needs so it’s important to find what works for you through these anxious and uncertain times and not worry about what others think – something that I’m constantly aware of and working on.

I really hope our government makes the right decision and errs on the side of caution versus rushing to reopen the country and stop the bleeding from the economy. I’m not really counting on it though, given who our president is. Since he values profit over people and ties his ego and success to the stock market, I wouldn’t be surprised if he reopens the country too soon only to cause a second spike causing even more loss, human and economic.

One thing that I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year has been to see the silver lining in things, especially those viewed or perceived as negative. I don’t want to downplay the significance of what we are currently experiencing with the loss of jobs, lives, and not being able to be around family/friends but instead focus on the good that has come from this. Here are a few positive things that I was able to find from this crisis we’re going through…

-Pollution is down across the world. The Venice canals are clear and you can actually see fish  Air pollution in China is down substantially and expected to save up to 77,000 lives in just two months. I can see it in the LA air quality as it feels like Christmas day every day with only a handful of cars on the road.-

-More quality time with family and loved ones. Our long commutes filled with bad LA drivers and the stress that comes with it has been replaced with walks around the neighborhood. Speaking of walks around the neighborhood, it feels like people came out of hibernation from all the people I’ve seen walking the streets these last few weeks. The human connection of seeing people not on their phones has been refreshing and I hope it continues on the other side of this crisis.

-The increase of babies we’ll see in 9-10 months from now….

Just a thought but maybe this virus was a wake up call for us to slow down and think about what we want our new future to look like…? Think of it as your computer’s CTRL ALT Delete button on society because if you ask me, I think we were too comfortable with the lives we were living to realize how good things were. Sometimes you have to get knocked on your ass to wake you up to the things that really matter, whatever that is to you. When your freedom to move is taken from you, it forces you to face all the crap you told yourself you didn’t have time for. Try to enjoy this new normal while thinking about what you want your life to look like after all of this passes and we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming.

QOTP: “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” –Anis Nin