We are officially in lockdown. While we are bound to our home space for the next few weeks, this current time is about more then being confined. Our narratives that has served us to date are dissolving - just like the caterpillar in our story. We are becoming distanced from our old reality and the internal stories we had about ourselves, others and how life should progress. As quickly as I am trying to adapt and choose a new narrative for my current reality, by the next day the pace of change renders that choice obsolete.
So I choose to breathe, I choose to surrender to this moment, and to stop any other story in my head as my mind searches back to the plans I had that changed, and the potential scenarios that might play out in the future. I now am sure of only one thing:
I cannot possibly imagine what lies ahead. But I can control how I deal with today.
Choose your Response
'Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.' Viktor Frankl
First I asked you to breathe and surrender. We have to surrender to what is in order to have the space to choose. Though we may think we have lost control over a great many things, in actual fact we never had control over them in the first place. The events of the last two weeks is proof enough of that. Rather we should focus on taking control of the only thing we ever can - our choice of response.
Viktor Frankl so courageously learnt and so wisely taught that by choosing our response we are either victorious over circumstances or we collapse. We are all going to look back on this monumental event in time. What will we see and who will be be at that point?
Each moment and day we are creating our new selves and the reality that lies on the other side of this huge mountain. See it as a pattern you are creating each day. By the end of lockdown you will see what you have created, what emerges. This applies to yourself, as well as the family system you are locked down with. You will all influence each other remarkably during this time. You are creating a pattern with each thought and each action. Days immersed in drama with a glut of media interaction will result in an outcome leaning towards potential PTSD as your adrenals can only cope with so much stress. Days immersed in chosen rituals, with a chosen narrative (Bill Gates provides an excellent narrative for this crisis), good self-care and contributing to your fellow humans by staying home will result in growth even in difficult times.
Whilst we all in truth need to grieve the loss of life as we knew it, the time for grieving will come. Now is the time to focus strongly on putting one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. Choose your steps wisely to ensure a destination you can live with.
Breathe, surrender and then choose.