The nailbeds of my fingers ache, I resist using my camera. Each time I take my gloves off to take a picture, I lose precious warmth. While this situation isn’t dangerous, it IS uncomfortable. My car is only a mile away. I consider frostbite. It would probably take my thumbs and little fingers first, I muse darkly.
An unseen horse screams/whinnies on the other side of a field. Of course, I am being dramatic. I want to scream “IT’S SOOOO COLD!” in response. It’s nice to know I am not alone. I see a squirrel and speak to it. It seems my words freeze as soon as they leave my mouth. They hang awkwardly in front of me. I decide it isn’t worth the effort to talk.
It is silent, frigid. The extreme cold brings clarity. Sharpness. The cold is pointed. There are no extra resources. This is good practice for being self-sufficient. Sustainability and self-sufficiency are high on my list of priorities. The last 12 months have been thought-provoking. Exactly a year ago, I was cruising in the Bahamas with my mom. Now I am in the forest alone. It is 1-degree Fahrenheit. The contrast is striking.
My first college degree was in Business. I drifted away from Business as a topic of interest, distracted by more creative paths. The upheaval in our world has inspired me to think about the economy, though. I am reading Post Corona by Scott Galloway, who describes Covid19 as an accelerator. All the changes that occurred during this time would have happened in the next decade. They simply happened faster due to the pandemic, he claims. This theory makes sense to me. Businesses that weren’t healthy didn’t survive. Systems that were not working failed. Think about relationships: challenging relationships didn’t withstand quarantine, good relationships flourished. Those of us that were alone either thrived or found ourselves fighting our way out of the darkness. Galloway suggests time travel without the time.
This idea organizes Covid19 related chaos in my mind. We have survived devasting losses. We have challenges, and a lot of work, ahead of us. We have learned lessons. We have new priorities. We have learned that the world can change in a single moment.
For me, the result is renewed gratitude for relationships, communities, and opportunities. This moment is fleeting and the next is uncertain. I always KNEW these words, now I UNDERSTAND them.