Is it time to come out of mental lockdown?
rachel Coffey
It is so important when we are all stuck at home in our own spaces that we find a way to give ourselves a break. Although most have been coping incredibly well many of the strategies have been about distracting ourselves from what is going on - outside in the world and inside in our homes and indeed minds.
Whilst it is great to find activities to occupy us through this time, there’s no doubt that there are only so many banana breads you can bake (and eat) before the appeal starts to wear a little thin - even if our waistlines might not be following suit! Routine is essential to get us going in the morning and gives us some sense of normality but there’s a balance to be struck when our mind feels as though its on repeat.
The key to this may be through change. Both managing change - and also creating it. To a large extent we can’t control what is happening outside. We can contribute to it, but the decisions are being made by others. This in itself feels very alien to us, though in reality, we almost all live by a set of common rules. We stop at red. We don’t park on double yellows. We expect to cross at black and white stripes. In fact rules that are there for the safety of ourselves and others are part of our communal nature. If these new rules begin to feel out-dated however, then our feeling of injustice will kick in and it may become much harder to tow the line.
One of the things that we might not have particularly noticed and yet is true for so many of us, is a strange feeling of loss. For some of course that feeling is very real - in the sense that they have lost someone from their lives. In this situation, time, care and ongoing support are absolutely vital. What of the rest of us though? Where is this sense of emptiness coming from?
Many of us are actually grieving for our future. That may sound odd, but think about it. Where once our minds would wander to imagine meeting a friend for a drink, trying out a new restaurant or visiting another country, suddenly there’s a void. Its as though our collective subconscious has installed a content bar on free thought! This is because those thoughts planted seeds that in time turned into an invitation, a reservation, a new destination. Right now though our minds have a travel ban on future thinking. Its almost like we can’t allow ourselves to dream, just in case it doesn’t happen. Is this really the right approach?
Most inventions would not have happened if there hadn’t been a problem to solve. Problems in themselves then, cannot be a barrier to positive change. In fact they are the instigator for it. And without creative thought, the mental exploration that is required to come up with so many new concepts, simply wouldn’t have happened. Perhaps then, although we’ll need to tow the line on physical lockdown, the time has come to open up the borders of our minds? Could it be that this is precisely the time to un-mothball our brains and get them into action?
Whatever happens next, one thing is for sure and that is that things will not remain the same. We are in a constant state of change and the choice is whether we are passive within that or we contribute to it. It may feel as though time has stood still for the past few weeks; in reality we’ve all been in a whirlwind of dramatic change. If we want to feel in control. If we want a say in what will shape the world. If we want to contribute to what comes next, we need to open the curtains and let in the light.
Nobody expects life to be the same in eight weeks time as it was eight weeks ago. On every level of society there is a global expectation for change. I’m not suggesting there won’t be tough times ahead. There’ll be issues, consequences and learnings. Even here, if we approach it pro-actively, rather than simply fire fighting, isn’t there an opportunity her for positive change? Yes, we will have to look after the vulnerable in our society - isn’t it true though that in recent times we’ve been largely ignoring the fact that we really needed to have been doing this all along? We will need to find new ways of working, new ways of learning and new ways of caring.
On a personal level too, this twig that has stopped the hamster wheel from turning, could pave the way for a different way of thinking. So even as we sit at home in our PJ’s maybe it is time to come out of mental hibernation, face up to the things that might not have been working in the past and move forward in our minds. We could spend a long time trying to get back to ‘normal’. Or we could instead use this unexpected portal to get back to the future that we actually wanted all along.