Back to school time has arrived again -- fr all levels of euation. A former colleague noted that they felt they had no resilience as the year begins. This may be somewhat understandable given so many new things and ways of doing them differently -- where things seemed to change every few days for the past two years. The stress of the pandemic happenings stole the time that would usually help people to recharge. Now, even the activities that might help people relax and recoup have changed. Things are not as they were pre-pandemic and likely never will be. Everything in our near and far surrounds is different even in subtle ways. Perhaps this explains the feelings of anger, frustration and disappointment that we see in the faces and hear in the voices around us.
I've found that things I did regularly pre-pandemic, now take so much more time to plan and execute. Simply put, I'm out of practice AND acutely aware of the dangers of travel or of being in crowds. After spending much of the time with far less social contact than usual, resuming some form of regular contact has become a bigger challenge than I would have guessed it would be. Again, I find myself thinking of my grandparents who lived through the flu epidemic of post-WWI. I wish I could speak with them and find out how they moved forward after the worst of that viral invasion. I feel so ill equipped to manage a re-entry into society. I'm not sure we need to have a formal entry like those of the debutantes, but some discussions about ways to manage the anxiety that comes with spending time with friends might help many people. We will need to understand, that who we are has changed. It may be subtle or in-your-face big. But we have changed. I need to rework my approaches to research activities since the plans I'd had prior to facing the first of many lockdowns will be changed. Archives I hope to visit will have different protocols in place in light of transmissibility of current and potential future viruses. All visits will require travel. I hope to start with the closer trips in the coming months and then take the longer trip to tie up the final bits of needed historical input. I know how I would have done it in the past, but there will be unforeseen hoops to jump through that no one had even conceived of three years ago. So, life will move forward, but the direction, pace and protocol will be altered.
A song that came to me today deals with making positive changes in life. I want to re-enter the world as who I am now, doing what I'd planned but in a way that fits the new way of doing things. I like the upbeat lyrics and rhythm of this one. Keep safe. Enjoy!
I'm Coming Out -- Diana Ross
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