I don't know about you, but almost every day feels completely different than the one before. While some thoughts and emotions carry over through my dreamless slumber, others drift off. Far enough to leave me for now, far enough to leave me forever. The circumstances of our lives are existing on roller skates at this time and every day that the sun rises, who knows what it could bring with it. While a lot of what could come is unknown and quite intimidating, I feel there is also a section of the unknown that houses the original and authentic magic that comes along with ambiguity, ever so naturally. That can exist, even amongst the fear and the lack of information and answers. The fear and the excitement of the unknown can co-exist, it's just a matter of which one we give all the power to.
An idea that has been circulating in my universe for the last 24 hours is that of us entering a new stage of this part of our lives. While the first couple of weeks were filled with adrenaline, survival instincts, and basic human fears, I believe it is time for us to graduate naturally into a new state of temporary and permanent building. Life has dropped us all of somewhere for the time being, whether we like it or not. It is now our job to move from protecting and surviving into stabilizing and grounding. Our lives have been uprooted, rerouted, and unplugged in many unique, individual ways. While all of our subjective experiences may differ, slightly or greatly, the collective experience of upheaval and anxiety can unite us on a front that we may not have fully considered until the stress and urgency of the original moments begin to fade... until now.
Today we are deeper into our new ways of living. Keeping separate from others, without touch or physical connection with those outside of our household, keeping a distance from others but somehow zooming back in on our own lives. Some of us have more time to spend with our loved ones, others have more time to spend with themselves. With nature. With the parts of life that cannot be bought or franchised. I live alone which means my household consists of just me. I haven't had physical contact with anyone in over three weeks. For some, that may feel lonely. For others, it is medicinal. Sometimes I wish I could just be hugged, sometimes I am happy to be with just myself. There is no right or wrong way to process what has changed, what is missing, or what has been gained. It comes in moments and then is gone. Like the ebb and flow of the salty, seductive waves that I have turned to for healing my entire life, my body is back to its natural flow. It always has and especially now, belongs to just me. My energy belongs to just me. My life is just my own. I know I will be hugged and held again one day soon, but for now, I am grateful.
So what is this next stage? You know, the one that follows the humanistic, instinctual need to survive. The one that greets us after the first stage left us all frayed and burnt out. Teetering between sanity and total shattering. Hoarding TP and clearing out grocery stores in hours. This next stage is much more generous on our bodies, much lighter for our hearts, and a whole lot safer for our minds. It is the stage of building. While we may not be able to rebuild our world or our lives with a clear ending to this madness and destruction, it is safe to say that we have a temporary home between the ending and the beginning. We are living in the middle ground that any spiritual philosopher will preach to you as the answer to that which you have been asking for. I am not here to tell you how the middle ground will build you up or give you what you need to grow. Instead, I am here to introduce to you, the idea to build on this middle ground. To create a home here. To nest, making your life more comfortable. We are on a long journey that doesn't quite have a perfect ending in sight. We don't need to be filled with adrenaline-fueled panic anymore, but perhaps we do need to begin laying down a new foundation.
Life is asking us to settle into our new lives for the time being. It will take time for human health and society to rebound and the worst is still yet to come for my nation and community. With all of that in mind, I have been feeling incredibly inspired to nest. To care for my space and myself, but instead of doing it with the intention of just survival, I am shifting my intention to stabilization. While things are constantly changing and it is hard to build a solid foundation on moving ground, think like a boat. Build a structure for your life, build habits that will carry you through this time and possibly even directly into your future. Build a space you can begin to thrive in. Survival is a basic human nature but thriving is the nature of our soul. We need more than just survival for this length of time.
Building this new foundation for your life, taking into account the rocky, moving waters around you and the new way of doing things you have always done without thought, means being curious about how you can approach new ways of living and being. It means being innovative and open to trying new things. It means coming at certain struggles or ways of being with a new angle or a new approach entirely! It means taking what you have now, the way your life has shifted and the way that you must care for yourself in this moment, and building off of that. Building something sturdy, something sustainable, something grounding.
For me, that means finding new ways to entertain myself and exploring new ways of connecting to others. It means I can get rid of anything and everything that was centered around efficiency and replace it with sustainability. With new ways of living that are actually much more authentic and grounding for myself. The world is wounded and we are all being called to slow down. What does this mean for you in the long run? Because that is what we are in. A marathon. A marathon in which we do not know the distance but we must continue on the path, anyway! So we slow our pace and we find a new way of living in this middle space. A new way of rooting ourselves back into life, in our own way and in our own time. No rush. No bullshit. Just authenticity.
While we are given this time to slow down and care for ourselves and our life, we may still need to channel most of that energy into staying afloat. That is ABSOLUTELY OKAY!! If you are ready to settle into a different way of living, start with your habits. Start with the things that you don't have to do anymore and let them show you what you want to replace that time, space, and energy with in your life. Start with the things you have always wanted to do but never had the time. Let this new energy, this new way of living and being, give you the room to change what you focus your personal resources on. Your time, your energy, your love, etc. You are in control of your nest and your state of being. Do what you need to do to be ok and as soon as you feel ready, do want you want to do to feel alive. To feel content. To feel like yourself again.
May we discover the things in life, the people, experiences, habits, activities, etc. that bring us true joy! That help us bloom in this world and connect to our authentic selves. May we all feel safe enough to create a foundation. One that will carry us through this and onto the otherside. One that will usher us into the new life that is waiting for us when the sun rises once more. When we are ready to stand back up and keep going on this marathon journey, there is a golden opportunity for us to infuse our lives with what brings us the most joy and the most connection. We can start this now! We can begin to build a new life for ourselves, even if we are alone. Even if we haven't felt the touch of another human in weeks. Even if we are in self-isolation or quarantine. We can build the foundation that the rest of our lives can play off of. We can build a connection to ourselves and to life that society has overshadowed or disintegrated. We can do this now. Or at least, we can try.
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