The World Is A-Changing
Sunrise. “Social Distancing”, week 2. Leamington, Ontario.
It feels weird to be writing about anything normal at this time. The streets are empty, (non-grocery) stores are empty, people are at home. Life feels almost … primitive somehow, as we hole up with our families, batten down the hatches, and try to make peace with our fear as we hope to ride out the coming storm. Life as we knew it is on pause.
Some countries have been hit hard. We’re hoping that we can avoid the worst of it. There’s a lot of uncertainty. One thing is certain, life will go on.
And although life will certainly go on, I don’t think that life as we knew it is on pause.
I think that life as we knew it is over.
I think that some things are going to change forever. And I don’t know what.
I was talking to a colleague last week (remember back when people went to the office?) about the stock market. By most investment theories, now is a great time to buy. We were talking about Air Canada, which has lost almost 75% of its value over the last two months. He said this would be a great time to buy, after all, if the fundamentals haven’t changed, you’re getting a great company on huge sale. And I said I wasn’t so sure that the fundamentals hadn’t changed. We as a society may awaken after 6 or 12 or 24 months of hyper-local activity to realize that we don’t need or want to fly as much as we used to. In other words, our life and our society may look fundamentally different in a year. That’s just one example.
Maybe this will be the crisis that precipitates universal basic income. Maybe people will go 6 months without professional sports and realize that they don’t care about them as much anymore. Maybe this will be the death blow to bricks and mortar stores as people now buy everything online.
I don’t know what will change, but I’m certain some things will. Change is scary. It’s always scary. Even more so when there’s a pandemic and you, or someone you love, could become sick and die. It feels like the stakes are high.
What Will Come
I don’t know what will come (and I’m not sure I trust anyone who says that they do), but I’ll tell you what I dream for. I dream for a world where we’re more understanding and kind, with less toxic tribalism. Less “you” and more “we”.
I dream for a world where we focus on the things that matter: our relationships and the things that are fundamental to our heart, rather than simply wasting our earth as we seek to keep up with the latest trend.
I dream for a world where we can be ourselves, and we belong.
Physical Distancing, Not Social Distancing
We’re being called upon to socially distance ourselves now in order to slow and hopefully halt the spread of this virus. But with all the uncertainty and fear, now is not the time to be socially isolating yourself.
We’re lucky. We still have phones and the internet. Call someone you love. Facetime someone you care about. Ask them how they’re doing.
Let’s use this pandemic to bring our community closer instead of cut them off.
Opportunities In Change
Change is in the air.
Rebirth. A change in our world order.
One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s always opportunity in change. Hell, if I knew how Amazon would disrupt retail, I would’ve made a killing.
And I think there are two types of opportunities presenting themselves:
The obvious ones. These are the ones people mention when I ask them about the opportunities available to them. These are things like spending more time with family, resting, or finally mari-kondoing our place. The sort of stuff we do when we’re cooped up.
The life-altering ones. There’s big picture change happening. Are you going to be the person who owns a bunch of payphones as cell phones are introduced? Or the person with the taxi cab license as Uber and Lyft show up? Or will you be the person who bought Amazon at the beginning because you saw what was happening?
Part of me suspects that a whole new industry or two will be created by the time this thing is done and dusted. I’m interested to see what that industry does, and how it affects us and our planet.
What Seeds Will You Plant?
I’m not trying to fear-monger about this talk of the world changing. I’m not trying to tell you to scour investment news or pull out your crystal ball.
I’m just trying to get you to open your eyes and ears and listen to your heart.
If you’re in touch with who you are, and if you take this time to not only be closer with your family, but also to be closer with your authentic self, then I think you’ll have the perspective to see the coming opportunities and the courage to reach out for them.
What seeds can you plant now?