Last week I listened to a podcast about one scientist’s opinion on when the pandemic will end. His take? He is cautiously optimistic that we’ll go back to normal by next summer. And while that seems far off, it’s better than some estimates I’ve heard, so I hope he’s right. I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately about people’s predictions of when this will all be over. The truth is, though, no one knows for sure. It calls to mind of my favorite lines:
“The only thing for certain is uncertainty.”
It’s the refrain from one of my favorite country songs Sounds Like Life To Me by Darryl Worley. A song about life’s curveballs, (the topic of many great country songs, of course!) and how the best way to deal with life’s difficulties is to stop wallowing and just embrace them.
I play this song a lot lately. It helps me get through the hard days, much like an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon or a handful of gummies at night (ok, fine, maybe a whole bag).
I’m a planner by nature. I have lists. My lists have lists. I input my monthly menu into Google calendar. I have already planned out my Sundays from now until the end of 2020, and I already have next summer’s itinerary worked out. But the unpredictability of 2020 has thrown a wrench in all that. I can plan for the week, maybe the month. That’s it.
It’s similar to the way I feel before a hurricane hits South Florida. For days, the projected path of the storm is all the news outlets are talking about. And the “models” projected on the news are literally all over the map. (Literally. There were even memes made about Hurricane Dorian with so many projected paths, it looked like a tangled ball of yarn over the entire state.) So we do what we can – we plan for the worst and hope for the best. But the not knowing – it drives me crazy more than anything else.
And unlike a hurricane, this won’t be over next week. Or next month.
It’s overwhelming to think about, but there is a solution.
On a trip to a theme park with my kids, my daughter who wasn’t tall enough to ride by herself made me ride the kiddie roller coaster “just one more time.” Instead of trying to hold my body tight throughout the ride and shutting my eyes tight for the 3rd time in a row, I tried a different tack this time around. I kept my eyes wide open and let my body move with the ride, going with the flow, literally. Surprisingly, it made the ride easier to bear.
So here is what I’m going to try to do moving forward:
Embrace the unexpected. Eyes wide open. Go with the flow.
At some point or another, we all have our fair share (or more) of difficulties. We can either waste our energy being upset about it, or we can suck it up, and move forward. It’s not easy advice to hear, but I know it’s what needs to be done. As Worley says, “I know this ain’t what you want to hear/But it’s what I’m going to say.”
COVID is not going anywhere any time soon. If I stop expecting it to end, it will become easier to bear. As Worley puts it: “You gotta hold on tight/Just enjoy the ride/get used to all this unpredictability.” It’s not what I want to hear, but it’s what I’m going to do.