MAKE A CHOICE
So, I feel like I have been stuck for days now, just trying to find a hook for the next part in this series. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about. Trust me, I’m that guy at parties that you just wish would shut up about all that culture and ritual and symbols mumbo jumbo. And even though it feels like the weight of ISO is slowly lifting, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that now more than ever I should be rising out of the heavy funk of COVID bloody isolation, the truth is that I got nothin!
I don’t know, there’s something about the easing of restrictions that complicated things for me. I still have fear and confusion, but it is tinged with a weird feeling of something I can’t quite put my finger on…Oh I know…it’s hope! It’s like I’m in Bane's prison in The Dark Knight Rises, trapped between the two extremes of hope and despair, and I am just bloody over it!
At one end is the guilt-ridden, fear-fuelled, manic, hyper-productivity I see on the socials, on the other end is the deep, depressive exhaustion that I sometimes wake up to in the morning, and then there’s the fifty shades of crazy in between. You know, where you oscillate between abundance mindset and scarcity mindset; “Ive got this” mindset and “I seriously have no idea what I’m doing” mindset; “I love connecting with my family” and “I hate my family”; and don’t even get me started on homeschool!
I’m sick of “the new normal”, “unprecedented times”, “uncharted territory”, “pivot”, “survive”, “its all ok”, ”we’re all in this together”. I’m sick of the words “because of COVID 19”. Honestly, it has become redundant. You don’t need to explain anymore. Seriously, stop it! Stop doing it! It’s ridiculous, it's un-Australian.
Oh wait…wrong speech!
Sometimes I wish I was more like my dog, Mojo. You see, other species are pre-programmed to “know” how to cope with the world. A dog knows how to be a dog. And I’m not just talking about peeing on telegraph poles and sniffing other dogs’ butts. But then I remember that humans have evolved the ability to choose how to respond to our environment. We can’t just rely on our instincts, especially when my instincts are telling me to get the bloody hell out of here. And so what humans need is an instruction manual, and that manual is culture.
As anthropologist Clifford Geertz pointed out, it is human nature to have culture. Culture is not simply the lens through which we view the world, it actually shapes the world in which we live. And to paraphrase Major “Moogy” Sumner, the Ngarrindjerri elder from South Australia, isolation is an opportunity to learn about our culture, to learn about who we are.
But our own culture is a very slippery thing. It is very hard to see, and has never been set in stone; you see culture is constantly changing.
So this week’s Hot Chip is to start paying attention to the things you never really thought about before. Pay attention to the things you are doing that help you to deal with the anxiety of the moment. Start noticing the things that were once invisible, but have now been revealed by this crazy little thing called COVID.
And when you feel stuck, as I was, remember that resistance is a window into a need not being met. And so rather than getting furious about the weirdness of the world and where you’re at, why not get curious? Use it as a chance to learn more about who you are, what you need, and then decide how you want to get through this.
Remember where we were before COVID. Pay attention to where you are at right now. Visualise where you want to be, and make a choice. What kind of world do you want to live in? What kind of culture and community do we need in order to make that world a reality? What kind of human do you need to be to create that culture? And don't forget The Golden Rules of ISO!
And when you’re completely buggered, after having done all of that…make sure you set aside some time to celebrate! Its hard work, coping with change…and in the uncharted territory of these unprecedented times, as we struggle to face the new normal, whether you are trying to pivot, or just trying to survive, it’s all OK, we’re all in this together...because of COVID 19!