The theme of this year seems to be one of transformation. There is a LOT going on, and most of it is pushing us in some way. For a long time, it was almost a comedy of errors, a laugh and a groan and a "What next?" But it is starting to become clear that this isn't a roadbump that we are going to get over and move merrily along our path again. This is a whole new road, we are entering a new landscape, and if we try to force ourselves back into the world we knew, we will just make that transition harder.
Transformation is a part of life. We are constantly growing and changing and becoming new people. When we are little, this is a very quick thing. One day we are barely able to crawl, and then we stand up and all of a sudden we are running. It's like that one thing clicks and everything else falls into place.
As we grow older, we don't experience as many changes, but the big ones, the ones that fundamentally alter who we are, tend to be sudden. The tricky thing about these type of quick changes is that it tends to take us a fair amount of time to catch up with ourselves. We might have changed overnight, but we still have to adjust, we have to figure out who this new person is, and how to live with the revelations we have learned.
These type of internal changes are pretty common in the teen years. As children, we are figuring out who we are, and as teenagers, we sometimes go through dramatic changes as things we have been struggling with for years solidify and we just 'know' who we are. But, we aren't finished yet, we are still malleable and ever-changing, and the truth of our today might change tomorrow. And still, in the moment, we are a whole new person, sometimes every day, as we struggle to sort out the truth of our being.
As adults, we have mostly settled into who we are inside. The big changes come from the outside world. As children, our world was kept stable by our parents or carers, and we were often sheltered from the big changes (as much as they were able). But as adults, we have to face those interruptions, and we have to figure out how to adjust. Whether it is the loss of a job we thought was a career, a death in the family, moving across country, there are going to be huge changes that we have to overcome.
This year is a change on a global scale. We are facing something we haven't faced in a long time, and I'd wager to say we haven't faced it on this scale. The interconnections of modern life means that issues don't stay local, and when something is big enough, it spreads across the globe. We are seeing this, not only with the virus, but also with the social issues that are coming to light. People in other countries are noticing what is going on across the world from them...and they are reacting. We are starting to act like a global community, and not just a collection of countries.
And this is a radical kind of change. It's the kind of change that used to take decades or even centuries to ripple across the globe, and now it's racing around the world in hours. Our eyes are being opened to how things are in other places, and the old excuses of "that won't work..." are being shown to be false as we look to other places where not only is it working, but it's been working for years.
This also requires many of us to face personal transformation. We have to integrate these ideas and information into our concept of how the world works. We may have to question things we have believed all our lives. This is a hard, and sometimes painful process. It often means admitting that we were wrong, and that can be a tough thing to do.
But the beauty of it is that once we are able to see the flaws, once we accept that there were mistakes made, or that there is a better way to do things, it's like breaking free from old chains. We can pull in that breath of fresh air and look towards how to fix things for other people. Because even though this is a personal transformation that we all have to face, it is also a transformation of community, and just because you ultimately have to reach out of your current circumstances, that doesn't mean that other people can't reach towards you. It is simply up to you to look up, to see the hands being held, and to take one!
I believe we have passed the point of no return. I don't think the world moving forward can be the same as the one we left just last year. Too much has changed, and too much has transpired. And there will always be people who want to put their head back in the mud, to refuse to see what is actually going on, the ones who will insist that we need to 'get back to normal'.
Adjusting to the new world starts inside. We have to open our eyes and really see what is going on. We need to seek out information, and think for ourselves. We need to consider what the actual situation is, and what the best way to handle it going forward will be. And then we need to take action, no matter how hard or scary it feels. Start small, seek other people who are moving in the same direction, but start moving!
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