Leaping off the giant hamster wheel of life left us all a bit shaken as we entered the lockdown in Springtime, Sadie Cramer writes.
Facing into the unknown, armed with hand-sanitizer and a bog roll, we proceeded with trepidation into the great abyss. Some of us opted to play Rapunzel in her ivory tower, taking self-isolation to soaring heights. The rest of us gardened with gusto, scrubbed the pattern off our linoleum with gumption or serenaded the world from our balconies with sweet sincerity.
We became whip-cracking school-teachers, gourmet chefs and D.I.Y enthusiasts overnight. Simultaneously, we became awestruck by the local amenity strictly within a 2km radius of our homes. The field of sheep, we’d usually ignore, shone with a holy radiance in the Mediterranean sunlight and we thanked our lucky stars for life itself.
Meanwhile, our sense of priority shifted. We saw the value of our local shop. We admired the staff and appreciated the supply chain of goods. We saluted all the front line workers and went into a suspended reality; a daydream of sunshine and disbelief as the COVID numbers started to tot up.
Could this really be happening? How we treat our young and elderly remain as question marks for our consideration. How we treat the poverty-stricken, the homeless or those in direct provision, the same. How we bury our dead, how we spend our time and how we interact with each other are all in sharp focus these days. Some of us couldn’t stop working and some of us returned to our jobs. Yet, some of us may never go back to the work we once did or know when there’ll be work again. So, what next, what else?
To consider what else? To take an inventory of what we already have. What do we have, our health? Is our health really our wealth? A roof over our heads, a family, a car? What else do we need or want for our lives to roll out the way we wish? We’ve reached a natural plateau. A collective pause at this time. A time to take stock. A time to re-evaluate our efforts and achievements thus far.
As we come up for air, we have time to draw breath and imagine future versions of ourselves. What do we look like, where are we and what are we doing? It’s time to dig deep and find the WHAT ELSE?
What else could really make a difference not only to our own lives but also to those in our greater community? What else is there for us to do with the time we‘ve left on this planet? Perhaps we’ve already achieved the vision we had for ourselves and can now roll with the rhythm of life. Do we seriously want to get back on that crazy hamster wheel again, if not, WHAT ELSE?
*Feature image illustrated by Sadie Cramer
Visit www.sadiecramer.com
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