The Finish Line

CoVID-19 Day 31

I’m now stressed because I don’t know what is stressing me. I cleared a couple of items off my worry list and now I have a headache. I’m wanting to be positive but what I’m hearing is that we don’t know what is going to be the most effective way to come out of this so I’m just confused.

One thing a crisis does is focus the mind. We don’t perform well in the middle, we need a target to aim for or a hurdle to clear and often neither is in focus. Being on lock down isn’t generally helping but in this alternative bubble we do find ourselves thinking more critically about some of the things we otherwise take for granted or we get away with not paying attention to.

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there are months ahead of us before we are even out of the starting blocks

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Most of us know what we need to know about Coronavirus and social distancing and much of what we’re picking up is repetition. Even stuff that should be shocking is becoming part of the new normal. Yes, action needs to be taken but the landscape isn’t going to change dramatically soon. The curve is flattening which is what we wanted but what do we now do with it?

It seems like the lockdown has been fairly well accepted, loo rolls are not hard to find in the smaller shops and there is a sense of being in it together. There doesn’t appear to be a sense of unrest but I’m not sure whether that’s assuring or concerning. Long standing stress is unhealthy but so is getting comfortable with a bad situation (which can simply be an accommodating strategy that makes us feel better but actually leaves us just as stressed).

The flattening curve doesn’t mean we are getting over the crisis, it simply means that it’s getting worse less severely. It’s a kind of managing phase rather than panic phase, a little like managing the water rations in the lifeboat rather than trying to get off the sinking ship. We should think of it as climbing Everest, being half way up but not in the middle of a blizzard.

We should not be thinking of hunkering down and getting through this but taking charge of the moment with an eye on the summit and planning the decent. Anyone who’s done serious running will know that you don’t make getting to the top of the hill your goal, you imagine yourself on the other side.

Winning the peace is more difficult than winning the war. Getting through this crisis should not be our aim. In the bigger challenge of saving our planet from a climate catastrophe and saving society from the wolves, there are months ahead of us before we are even out of the starting blocks.

This shouldn’t depress us but should make us mindful that kicking off from the starting block is the most critical part of a sprint. Those seconds waiting for the gun can make all the difference between winning gold and walking away with nothing. But it’s not even the best starters who win, you don’t get the medal till after you’ve crossed the finish line.