Is COVID a Cataclysm? Or a Catalyst? I’m Going With the Latter
How’s your whiplash going? Mine sucks!!
I’m coming off a bad week. Actually, two weeks of funk.
Last week was the first time in over two years that I missed a Monday 5 p.m. blog post.
Couldn’t do it. The draft that I ran by my first-level “copyeditor” (my roommate of 49 1/2 years) got me a diplomatic groin kick.
As in: “Are you serious?” “Who are you trying to be?” “Reel it in, Bucko!” “I don’t know you!”
Seems the article was a tad political and wholly judgmental – from an old dude who is in no position to be judging anybody on anything.
It had to be the whiplash.
I’m blaming COVID whiplash for resurrecting my arrogance, thinking my poison pen would move the societal needle. Never has, never will. Always backfires.
Which WHO/CDC directive do I believe or follow this week?
One rogue cop = elimination of police departments. Whaaa?
A death in Minneapolis = free big-screen TVs at Walmart in California.
Stock market or wet market?
Hannity or Maddow? (Both are nuts!)
Open, don’t open.
Return to work, don’t return to work.
Retire, don’t retire.
All but the last two will fade away from our immediate consciousness. I’m guessing the last two represent a couple of the most pressing and lingering questions facing us going forward, especially in the 50-55+ demographic I enjoy working with as a life transition coach.
Emergence from adolescence?
Some have suggested that COVID may be a catalyst, perhaps the last vestiges and the most painful growing pains of us growing out of “adolescence” and maturing into “adulthood” as a society.
Surely, you’d think over two-and-a-half centuries would be long enough to mature into adulthood.
But then, maybe we need a few more adolescent tantrums to get there, to fully expose how we’ve lost our way culturally.
As much as anything our uncertainty reminds us that we have less control over life than we think we do, especially as we navigate through pervasive risk which may be the new normal as we get more globally interdependent, get sicker environmentally, and less healthy as individuals.
We’ve been swimming naked.
Warren Buffet famously said:
“It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
I know – he was talking about the scamming that goes on in the financial services industry. But, something in my gut tells me COVID is a receding tide and much of what we’ve become culturally is standing naked.
As in, what work has become for many.
As in our pre-occupation with retirement.
Are we finally beginning to drive a stake through the heart of meaningless employment and traditional retirement?
Let me extract some stats from this Forbes article that would say maybe we have at least bought the stake and the hammer when it comes to employment:
- A recent study by CareerBuilder.com shows that a whopping 58 percent of managers said they didn’t receive any management training.
- Fifty-eight percent of people say they trust strangers more than their own boss.
- Seventy-nine percent of people who quit their jobs cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as their reason for leaving.
- American workers forfeited nearly 50 percent of their paid vacation in 2017. The fear of falling behind is the number one reason people aren’t using their vacation time.
- The Conference Board reports that 53 percent of Americans are currently unhappy at work.
Do we really want to continue to mix the above with one-hour commutes, drab-towers of cubicles, stupidly-high parking fees to pay for ecologically destructive lots, bad fast food at our desks, stress?
Better questions = better lives.
It’s a good time to remember that the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of the questions we ask of ourselves.
I was reminded of that this week trudging through a re-read of “Zen and the Art of Making a Living” in which author Laurence C. Boldt states:
“All imaginative journeys are prompted by questions. The mind runs on questions. Questions form a kind of skeletal structure upon which your life is built. New questions, deeply asked, will shape a new life.”
If nothing else, COVID is at least shaking trees and raising quality, transformational questions at a time when the quality of our health, relationships, and ecology are declining. The quality of the questions starts getting really good and deep at mid-life and beyond for many.
I’m confident that COVID and the cousins that follow will move us down a path of more wholesome, purposeful, less-materialistic, planet-replenishing ways of life. We’re finding out quickly how we can do without what we thought we couldn’t do without that we busted our humps to avoid being without.
Aren’t we getting a big gulp of the shallowness of accumulation? Are we realizing that all this “getting” has an endpoint that we are approaching rapidly? What if, instead of a $75,000 Beemer, I bought a $35,000 Honda Accord and two used Hondas for two families in need?
Are we finally going to acknowledge that retirement and the fast-track, at age 62, to a 1,000 unit high-rise retirement community – advertised as “cruises without the motion” but in actuality, cleverly-disguised virus petri-dishes – might not be the wisest decision?
What is the story of your life? Is there a “Quest?”
Your life – my life – is a story. And they are changing, this time in pretty big chunks.
Chances are if you are at or beyond midlife, you are asking these types of questions (Sourced from “Zen and the Art of Making a Living”)
- Is there a story to my life?
- What am I doing here?
- Do I have a basic philosophy of life that is my own?
- What is my part in this grand play of life?
- How can I make a difference?
- What do I want to do? What must I do?
- What can I realistically achieve in the span of my life?
Big, important questions, all accelerated by something we can’t even see.
Let me wrap with more from Laurence C. Boldt as he writes about crafting the story of your life:
“If I could look at it objectively, would I want to read the story of my life? Does it grab and hold my attention? Does it have the elements of a good story: challenges to overcome, growth, direction, confidence, a larger-than-self purpose? If the answer is no, then perhaps the main character needs development; the plot needs to be clarified, expanded, sharpened: or excitement needs to get generated by increasing the tension between what could be and what is. If you can honestly answer yes, then – where is your next chapter going?”
Be safe. Stay with the “guidance” despite the whiplash,
Crank up the intensity of the questions!
I, for one, have determined the main character in my story needs serious development. That’s why I write. You, as a reader, are a player in that development. I appreciate you and thank you for joining the list. And especially for your comments. If this resonates – or not – let me know what you think with a comment below.
If you are not on the list, scoot over to www.makeagingwork.com and hop on.
Gary, Another fantastic post. I too have felt in a funk over the past few weeks with everything swirling around us- I think it is the uncertainty of our current situation. We don’t like uncertainty. That is one reason why retirement is so difficult for some people- they are uncertain about what is coming. Often this is because of lack of planning- which involves asking ourselves questions (sometimes tough ones) as you pointed out. I found your quote to be particularly important during the current times and as we consider our retirement: “It’s a good time to remember that the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of the questions we ask of ourselves.”
Covid is a cataclysm. Our rights and freedoms have been taken away under the guise of a fake pandemic that kills far less people than the normal flu. If that’s the way to a more “wholesome life”, I don’t want any part of it. The box is getting smaller for all of us, and there is no way Goverments are putting that cat back in the bag. Have you heard of the second wave that’s just arrived. You know what’s coming now, right. Back in your box. You’re grounded, not allowed out anymore. Yes sir, anything you say. The word Totalitarianism comes to mind.
Great article by the way.
Wonderful web site. Plenty of useful information here. I?¦m sending it to several pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And of course, thank you for your effort!
Hello makeagingwork.com admin, Your posts are always insightful and valuable.
To the makeagingwork.com admin, Your posts are always informative and well-explained.
I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
Hello makeagingwork.com administrator, Your posts are always well-written and easy to understand.
Hello makeagingwork.com webmaster, Good job!
Real wonderful visual appeal on this internet site, I’d value it 10 10.
Hi makeagingwork.com webmaster, You always provide valuable feedback and suggestions.
To the makeagingwork.com webmaster, Your posts are always well researched.
To the makeagingwork.com admin, Your posts are always well-received by the community.
Hello makeagingwork.com administrator, Thanks for the well-structured and well-presented post!