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Crisis & Opportunity
Apr. 1st, 2020 07:06 amI found this in an email from Anthony Ongaro of Break the Twitch, and it sums up what I was trying to say the other day about our current situation, but does so in a much better way than I did.
In mundane news a cold front ripped through last night, but it's brought us a few days of cool weather before Florida's summer starts pounding on us. So I have the windows open again, which the cats love, and can hear the wind and the birds again. I'm also dealing with - for whatever reason - a muscle twitch. I typically get a nerve that fires like this in one eyebrow - it's not even a symptom a stress or anything, it just does it. Today it's one of the longer muscles in my thigh but it's been twitchy since I got up, so that's annoying. I'm hopeful that once I get rehydrated from overnight and go for a run that it'll shut up.
I also saw a piece in The Atlantic this morning about how we're now starting to split along ideological lines over social distancing measures, and how people are turning whether they follow the guidelines or not into political performance theatre. I've said on a couple of occasions that I don't really want to drag politics into my personal journal here, but I will say that deliberately flaunting recommendations that are there to help you not contract a potentially deadly virus makes you a grade-A fucking idiot. And I don't really care which side of the political spectrum you're on, whether it's conservatives who think "it's not that bad," or party people who just want to have a good time, you're all morons.
Last but far from least, I discovered bookshop.org, an online book dealer that seems to be aiming to be the anti-Amazon. Portions of purchases made go to supporting small local brick-and-mortar book shops and the prices are not bad. I just bought a copy of The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. LeGuin which has already shipped. I don't know why I thought I needed another book for my TBR pile, but there you have it.
There is always opportunity in uncertainty.
I don’t mean opportunity to “take advantage” of the situation in a sleazy way. That’s gross. I mean simply seeing things for what they are and looking for the gift in the storm. It might be an opportunity to call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time. An opportunity to offer a skill or talent you have that would help someone else substantially. An opportunity to reprioritize just about any aspect of life.
As bad as things seem, we can feel the “bad” authentically, see opportunities, all while reassessing the situation and growing as a result.
We don’t need to pretend like the uncertainty we face is some magical happy time—it’s okay to feel that as it is. The cult of constant positivity is not one I care to join. But we can look for ways to find familiar, turn inward during this time of isolation, and come out stronger through a difficult situation.
I don’t mean opportunity to “take advantage” of the situation in a sleazy way. That’s gross. I mean simply seeing things for what they are and looking for the gift in the storm. It might be an opportunity to call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time. An opportunity to offer a skill or talent you have that would help someone else substantially. An opportunity to reprioritize just about any aspect of life.
As bad as things seem, we can feel the “bad” authentically, see opportunities, all while reassessing the situation and growing as a result.
We don’t need to pretend like the uncertainty we face is some magical happy time—it’s okay to feel that as it is. The cult of constant positivity is not one I care to join. But we can look for ways to find familiar, turn inward during this time of isolation, and come out stronger through a difficult situation.
In mundane news a cold front ripped through last night, but it's brought us a few days of cool weather before Florida's summer starts pounding on us. So I have the windows open again, which the cats love, and can hear the wind and the birds again. I'm also dealing with - for whatever reason - a muscle twitch. I typically get a nerve that fires like this in one eyebrow - it's not even a symptom a stress or anything, it just does it. Today it's one of the longer muscles in my thigh but it's been twitchy since I got up, so that's annoying. I'm hopeful that once I get rehydrated from overnight and go for a run that it'll shut up.
I also saw a piece in The Atlantic this morning about how we're now starting to split along ideological lines over social distancing measures, and how people are turning whether they follow the guidelines or not into political performance theatre. I've said on a couple of occasions that I don't really want to drag politics into my personal journal here, but I will say that deliberately flaunting recommendations that are there to help you not contract a potentially deadly virus makes you a grade-A fucking idiot. And I don't really care which side of the political spectrum you're on, whether it's conservatives who think "it's not that bad," or party people who just want to have a good time, you're all morons.
Last but far from least, I discovered bookshop.org, an online book dealer that seems to be aiming to be the anti-Amazon. Portions of purchases made go to supporting small local brick-and-mortar book shops and the prices are not bad. I just bought a copy of The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. LeGuin which has already shipped. I don't know why I thought I needed another book for my TBR pile, but there you have it.
