Have you ever stood under a power line and listened for that constant hummmmmmm? That noise just hovering over you, a reminder that there is electricity and danger right above your head. Sometimes, standing there long enough, it might fade out of your consciousness, but a car will drive by or your mind will click back to hearing that hummmmmmmmm right over you.
This is kind of how I’ve viewed these last 11 months of living with the virus that is Covid19. Whatever your beliefs or opinions about this friggin virus thing that is still here, it has affected every aspect of our lives. The way we interact. The way we travel. Our jobs. Our families. Our education and careers. Like a big giant humming umbrella of stress that accompanies everything we do.
Which is why I just want to give this quick reminder about perspective. The bigger picture. I don’t know that’s there's been a time like this in my lifetime where such a large and looming thing has been hanging over us for such a long period of time.
We have been in a state or unease and uncertainty for a while. And all together. A collective holding of our breath that is stressful and hard.
Remember that next time that feeling of anxiety rises in your chest. Or when you lose your temper and direct your ire toward a loved one. Or a stranger. This humming buzz of danger all around us is a perfect recipe for setting off little volcanoes that maybe we didn’t even know were ready to explode.
I know everyone is tired of talking about the ‘rona, tired of the masks and the distance and the precautions and the news and all of it. I understand. But I also hope that we have learned to view our lives through a bigger lens of perspective and made adjustments accordingly.
More grace for ourselves. More grace for the people we love. More grace of the stranger who you know nothing about, but who has also been living under this exact same power line buzz of fear, uncertainty and perceived danger.
I’m hoping for a collective shift in compassion and love. That not only can we give ourselves a little more room to breath and permission to still melt under the pressure and stress, still rest and recover on hard days. Still look for chances to evolve and grow through it all, but give our neighbors, colleagues, loved ones and random person we don’t even know that same grace and space.
