Saturday March 22nd was an interesting day for all of us. The past ten days have been some of the most abnormal of my lifetime. Every day more cases of the COVID19 virus are being confirmed and the world appears to be in disarray. Between the 24 hour news cycle, group messages with friends and family, and social media we are being bombarded with information faster than we can begin to process it. Half of the country thinks the US response has been heroic, the other half believes it to be nothing short of criminal. As somebody who prides himself on being open minded and actually doing the research, it’s challenging to make sense of the current state of affairs. My bet is that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of those two beliefs.
The one thing I will say with confidence is that it’s very complex. It amazes me how many people are convinced they know the situation inside and out. I would argue that most individuals cannot even begin to conceptualize all of the factors that are at play here. We are dealing with matters concerning the microbiology of infectious diseases, global economics, and an unprecedented coordinated federal response to a pandemic. Under normal circumstances, I don’t believe that the average person would claim to be an expert in any of these areas. Yet during a time of crisis many people feel compelled to boldly proclaim that they have all the answers. It’s easy to draw a line in the sand and choose to blindly follow the talking points of one single major media outlet, it’s difficult to weigh many conflicting analyses and acknowledge the depth of the unknown.
As I sat in my apartment late Saturday night reading with a cup of tea, despite all the uncertainty in the world things felt quite still. The typical elements of a Saturday night felt lightyears removed. Everything was closed, nobody wanted to go out, and if you could momentarily forget about the virus situation life felt very simple. There were no sacrifices or choices to be made. I seemed to be existing outside of the normal confines of time and had few expectations. In one sense the world was changing faster than ever before, in another way things crawled to a halt. As chaos plagued the external world, internally I felt more aligned than I had in a long time. A quiet day spent with my family in isolation felt more fulfilling than any Saturday in recent memory. A quick trip to the grocery store with my dad felt like I had all I could ever want.
We so often fall into the trap of believing that our own happiness is dependent on our external environment. Saturday night showed me once again just how powerful your internal environment can be. Instead of viewing the day as wasted and feeling like this world wasn’t fair, I made the choice to be grateful for the time spent with my family and the opportunity to get some additional work done. Even in the most seemingly dire of circumstances, we always have a choice as to how we frame a situation.
My point in writing this is not to say that we should all just live in Zen and ignore the current circumstances. There are some major challenges we need to overcome and many people will suffer tremendously from this virus. Healthcare workers and leaders around the globe are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Families will struggle financially and loved ones will be lost. As a single 25 year old in upstate New York, I’m likely far removed from those who will be most affected by corona. My intention is not to downplay any of the negatives of this situation, it is to suggest that there are valuable lessons to be learned in times of crisis. When the superficial norms of the world are temporarily put on hold, we get the opportunity to focus on what has been buried underneath. Suddenly it doesn’t matter how you look or where you work. When you have nowhere to go, nobody will see what car you drive. As material considerations fade away, we are forced to stare nakedly at what truly matters to us.
My hope is that when we get this situation under control and the world returns to some semblance of equilibrium, I remember that first Saturday in quarantine. I hope that we can all be a little more appreciative of what we have and understand that at the end of the day there are very few things that actually matter. I’m not at all suggesting that I’m going to abandon my goals and dreams. On the contrary, the past few weeks have left me feeling more ambitious than ever before. I just want to do my best to make sure that my ambition is rooted in gratitude for the opportunities I’m so fortunate to have. I want to make sure that my family and friends understand just how much they mean to me. I want to keep perspective on how lucky we are to be living during this time period, despite the constant signaling suggesting otherwise.
I believe it’s important to be mindful that this crisis is weighing on us so heavily, largely because the potential of civilization has never been higher. Instead of focusing on the disruption or the perceived effectiveness of the response, appreciate the capabilities we have to respond in 2020. A life lost to this virus hurts so much because we’re in a position where we feel like every life can be saved. Just 100 years ago, the consequences of the virus would’ve been amplified by an order of magnitude. Instead of complaining that we’re stuck inside, be grateful that you have a climate controlled roof over your head. There might be nothing to do, but we have the opportunity to binge watch Hulu with a White Claw in hand, while FaceTiming our best friends. It’s all framing.
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