A particularly good friend of ours sent us an interesting and insightful article last week. It was quite timely and this is why.
I had been wondering these last few days why I had made a blunder on a few Zoom calls. Just last week I waited patiently for the instructor to start the Zoom class and wondered where he and the other attendees were only to realize that I was connecting to the call a day ahead of time! Not only did I do this once but twice last week on another Zoom call. The second time it happened was while I was waiting in the car for Andrea. And yet on a third Zoom training, I realized that I was almost an hour late hopping on. I have personally made it a point to always be prompt so this was all quite disturbing to me. I wondered if I was losing it and, finally, in an effort to blame something else, I questioned whether it was a side effect of the covid vaccine?! I knew that I had been on many Zoom trainings without difficulty and all on time. But what had changed?
I would be embarrassed to admit to these faults had it not been for the article from our friend. The article sympathetically explains what seems that many of us are currently experiencing. Thank goodness for this for I suddenly do not feel alone. –Maggie
The short article entitled, “What Time? What Day?” helps to explain why millions of us have felt disoriented during the pandemic. The title alone provides us with a sense of connection. The commentary speaks of a sort of “temporal dislocation” brought on by isolation and the lack of a familiar schedule. Over the past year, the need for isolation has created a sort of pandemic confinement for all stages of life – for those working, volunteering, and basically all of us who socialize. As we look at this as a “dislocation,” we can envision a dislocated shoulder or a hip. As we have seen on many made for TV medical shows, all it takes to relocate those joints is a tug and a huge scream as it is shoved or pulled back into place! If only it was that easy to position our current world back into place. If only we could turn this world around with one huge collective jolt and eliminate all those odd days of cognitive dislocation. If only!
Like so many, we do miss the structure of “normal” living, knowing what day it is, having somewhere to go, and being on time. You bet we do! In the meantime, it is good to know that so many of us can appreciate the theory of a “dislocation” as we await humankind to slowly move back into place.
Until our world turns back to mostly normal, it will remain a good habit to embrace a schedule. For instance, embrace a weekend as a weekend. Hail the day when a Saturday arrives even though you might not have anything special to do. Embrace it and celebrate that you are not the only one that must check their calendar twice a day to see what day it really is! For you are not alone…
Carpe Diem!
“The future depends on what you do today.” Mahatma Gandhi
