I see a phenomenon burgeoning. I watch it with endless curiosity and morbid fascination. It has to do with the coronavirus-induced notion that there will be a new normal … unless there won’t be.
The people who participate in this phenomenon seem to fall into one of three camps. They seem to do so in equal numbers. And oddly enough, the memberships of Camps One and Two consist of optimists.
Camp One comprises the people who think the new normal will be the same as the old normal. Clocks and calendars stopped at Point A. They will start again at Point B. When they do, we’ll all pick up where we left off as if nothing of consequence transpired between Points A and B. Everything will be the same. Everything will look the same. All conditions will be the same. Everyone will act that same. The coronavirus will have been nothing more than a chronological hiccup, the proverbial wrinkle in time.
Camp Two comprises the people who think the new normal will be nothing like the old normal. Clocks and calendars didn’t stop at all. Rather, the hands of the clock turned in new directions. And the pages of the calendar will flip to reveal possibilities of awe and wonder. Nothing will be the same. Nothing will look the same. All conditions will be different. Everyone — all of us who’ve been busily about re-imagining and re-inventing ourselves — will think and act differently. The coronavirus will have been nothing less than a cosmic miracle, leaving all of us joyfully renewed and boundlessly rewarded.
Camp Three doesn’t exist yet. But it will. When the members of Camp One and Camp Two find out they weren’t precisely or wholly correct, they’ll end up here. At that point, Camp Three will be the biggest camp, comprising, as it will, all the former members of Camps One and Two.
Until all of this shakes out, the best thing you can do is pace yourself.
And lower your expectations.
“The best thing you can do is pace yourself,” and stay focused on the present. There’s no assurance of planning for the future here – too many variables. That said, I guess if you get really depressed about the old normal or the new normal and feel that the apocalypse is at hand, you could build an Anderson shelter. https://mashable.com/2015/07/24/wwii-backyard-bunkers/. Hey, maybe there’s a reality show idea here!
Jeff, the notion of the backyard bunker is one of the reasons we don’t discourage Eddie, our dog, from digging in our yard. Anne and I are thinking that, if Eddie completes the excavation, we can construct the forms. Then, we’ll get a local concrete company to come in and pour the six-foot-thick walls. Since we don’t want to breathe the COVID-infected air, ventilation is a little tricky. But since we’ll also have do deal with odors from the litter box, we have Sammy, our cat, working on that. As for the reality show, we’re presently casting for The Adventures of Eddie and Sam. If you’d like to audition, please have your people contact my people.
In the meantime, be safe. 😊
I’d have to get a series of permits from the city, which is not keen on bunkers, and my NYC co-op doesn’t allow pets. And we live on the 6th floor! ugh…
Thanks Mark – it’s so hard not to try to plan ahead and envision what the future is like. You nailed it – the key for getting through this limbo is to lower your expectations. I loved the video – I’m currently making my way through great movies from the 80’s – Moonstruck was even better the second time. I look forward to reading more of your articles.
Thank you, Lisa. I had a long conversation with a client this morning. It was the quintessential example of the fact that there’s so much conflicting evidence floating around, you can only stay sane by ignoring all of it. Be smart. Be safe. And the rest till take care of itself in its own time.
BTW: Roger Ebert loved Moonstruck twice, once in 1987 and again in 2003. And I always thought Cher was an underrated actress.
The scene where Cage and Cher see each other outside the opera is not to be missed.
Love the Doodly, Mark! Interesting in that we have created such high expectations for things like customer service, and all of a sudden they no longer make sense. I see so many lessons in COVID
Thank you, Carol. I had an appointment with my doctor today and asked her opinion about the virus. She said it’s serious, it’s deadly, and it’ll run its course, likely by spring of next year. Be safe and be healthy.