Nothing

What is there to do during a global pandemic? Nothing.

Nothing is what Americans are being asked to do for the first time and it feels strange. I am rarely in a position to do nothing. I am always working even when I’m not. Luckily, I already work out of my house so I am already adjusted to long days by myself and the isolation it creates. In fact, I relish the time I have at home because I don’t waste time or fuel emissions driving to and from an office.

But, because we have all collectively stopped, I’m starting to notice how tired everyone is. We are a society that has been working non-stop for years. As soon as we wake up, we fight traffic and work our fingers to the bone. We get up and do it again day after day. Nothing closes, nothing ends, nothing matters. I’s all way too much, but we kid ourselves into thinking its normal.

Now, we are being asked - in some cases federally ordered - to stop. And, when we stop, we start to finally feel what is going on. Life in quarantined America show us a starkly different version of the lives we could live. Personally, I’m trying to see that as a silver lining. Anyone who follows me on social media knows I have been posting articles that praise the reset and reflection we’re receiving as a society. 

Coronavirus also allows us to stop and listen for a change and ask ourselves, “what are we doing?” Driving two hours in traffic to a job that takes us away from our family, our community, our personal time isn’t necessary for everybody. Working from home is possible for a large number of office workers.

Even more, maybe we can free ourselves from working so much. We need to remember what is important to us and why we’re here. Our purpose isn’t to work 24 hours a day. Our purpose is to create a life worth living. Last time I checked we were human beings not human doers.

Human quarantine is causing ripple effects across the globe. Behold our planet right now, it looks and feels better because we are not beating it up and forcing it to absorb our filth. Grounded flights and the halting of industry have led nitrogen dioxide pollution over China to plummet. Tourism restrictions have allowed the murky Venice canals to clear up.

I am not washing over the huge financial impact that this will have on all of us. I am just hopeful that our government helps everyone out so that we can pick up and go on once this is over. How can they not? No one escapes this virus.

I believe we are going to come out of this better and stronger.

I would invite you to look at this time as a vacation for your Body, Mind and Soul where you can reassess what’s serving you and what’s not.

Just do nothing. Stop so you can look around and figure out what you do want to do.

I would like to look at this as an opportunity to change the way things were and create a consciousness around how we intend to live. We can create lives that have us working out of our homes more, driving less, cultivating time to connect, and loving more.