What do you do when the world is temporarily closed?

It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves this year against the backdrop of a global pandemic.

2020 has brought with it a lot of doubt. Confusion. Uncertainty.

But most of all, it’s ushered in a laundry list of questions.

Like … what is the meaning of this global pause, if you will? Why was it necessary for the entire world to stop in its tracks this year?

First, let me say that my thoughts on this topic aren’t gospel, though I’ve considered them in prayer. They are simply my thoughts. My reflections. The answers whispered gently in my spirit in the middle of the night.

If your life is like mine, prior to 2020, it was easy to find busy. Busy-ness could not only be found at work, but also at home and in spiritual circles. I often found myself traveling to work in the morning, spending 8 to 10 hours a day at work, traveling home, and then spending time doing things around the house once I got there. Busy was my constant companion.

Nothing’s inherently wrong with keeping busy. It’s what we do in our busy-ness that matters.

I’m a praying person, my Christian faith anchored deep in my bones. However, even my spiritual life started to feel like a master ‘to do’ list rather than wholehearted connection with God last year.

Overall, life just started to feel a little more weighty. Sundays, previously reserved for church and rest, became days to do yard work, wash clothes, and spend extended quality time with close family and friends. The race to get home and unwind after a long day’s work resulted in my having only a couple of hours before bedtime to try and participate in some semblance of self-care.

At the beginning of this year, I was determined to better tend to myself and honor spaces in which I could create, connect with others, and cultivate relationship with God and myself. And when I learned of COVID-19, at that time not yet a global pandemic, my heart centered on those impacted in China and other countries around the world. The situation gave me pause, yet didn’t inspire me to stop what I was doing or do anything differently.

Truly, the combination of my dad’s death in late March, coupled with the world learning that COVID-19 was indeed a global pandemic, forced me to pump the brakes in nearly every aspect of my life. I experienced two overlapping hard stops within a two-week period.

My cell phone no longer rang, with my dad’s cheerful voice on the other end. Businesses closed. Kids transitioned from school to home. What we as social creatures were wired for — connection, that is — shifted to time spent behind closed doors and more isolation than ever before.

What do you do when the world is temporarily closed?

On some level, the cocooning was beneficial to me as I re-entered the acute spaces of grief. I welcomed the opportunity to separate myself from daily stressors and overwhelm to spend much-needed quality time with my immediate family. I embraced the freedom found in not having to field phone calls or tend to ordinary business. And my body appreciated receiving permission to wake without the annoying alarm, stay in bed long after the sun rose, and move only when absolutely necessary for over a month.

It was within this self-induced pause that I realized how much I’d shifted away from my childhood passions. I remembered the joy experienced as I wrote poetry and songs, completed art projects, and spent time in nature, oblivious to time.

When I returned home to re-engage my world following my dad’s death, the collective pause in the world awakened everything that’d been buried within me.

My writing blossomed in a space where I could freely and unhurriedly express my thoughts. Creativity flourished within a new environment unencumbered by external demands and other’s priorities. I felt a release in being able to listen more closely to my inner needs.

What does it mean when the world is temporarily closed?

I choose to believe that 2020 isn’t some sort of divine punishment for our collective and global missteps. It’s hard to believe that its sole purpose is to wag its finger in the lives of misaligned adults more focused on their cell phones than each other.

I do, however, recognize the potential for deeper connection, spiritual awareness, and space to truly look in the mirror of our lives to discover ourselves, perhaps for the first time.

Have you looked in your mirror yet?

2020 has brought with it a lot of doubt. Confusion. Uncertainty.

But most of all, it’s ushered in a laundry list of questions.

What questions have come up for you? And more importantly, what time have you devoted to wrestle with and hear the responses to the questions?

What do you do when the world is temporarily closed?

In this collective space — this global pause — I challenge you to sit with yourself, your thoughts, and your questions.

Write them down. Breathe. Rest. Finally, wait. (Repeat)

Will the answers to your questions come quickly? Of course, I have no idea.

But I’m naive enough to believe they’ll come.

Head over to my Facebook page to interact beyond the blog: https://www.facebook.com/DrMekel

XOXO,

M.

If you’re interested in learning more about managing your lifestyle, love, leadership, and loyalties to God, self, and others, click here: https://mekelharrisphd.com/.