The ebb and flow of Hello

My morning walks have started to seem like bit of a microcosm of the bigger energy shifts that happen as the coronavirus runs its course.

The first day of shelter-in-place, I went for my morning walk and made a point to say hello to everyone I saw.  Lots of people said hello back, waved, smiled, even seemed joyful.  There seemed to be an energy in the air of – “we can do this, we got this.”

The second day was a similar response, though a bit muted.

Days 3-19 were the toughest.  It seemed like folks had hit a wall.  Very quickly.  Most people kept their gaze downcast as we passed each other on the trail, with only the occasional wave or close-lipped, tight smile.  Those days felt hard.  I took a deep breath and kept saying hello any time I would see someone.

And then a few days ago, I noticed a few more people lifted their gaze, waved and smiled.  Some even appeared genuinely joyful, at least for that moment our eyes connected.  And I felt buoyed.

And I realized, this is as reflective as anything else of the broader experience of a change as enormous and sudden as the one we’re experiencing right now.  Often we can start hot out of the gate, possibly excited or optimistic about what the change could be like.  Maybe even a little giddy – hey, we don’t have to go into work, ha!

Until the reality sets in.  Oh, now I have to…

—homeschool my kids

—stay away from people I want to hug

—limit my trips to the store

—see people in my house 24/7 instead of mixing and mingling with others

—have endless conversations about this stupid virus every-damn-day

Suddenly, it feels daunting, with no end in sight.

And yet, here we are.  It’s been a few weeks and, like the resilient creatures we ACTUALLY are (even though we don’t always feel like it), we are finding our way to be in the world NOW, as it is RIGHT NOW, not how it was just a few weeks ago.  And as things change, we will keep shifting and adapting because we are, in fact, quite capable of doing just that.

And hopefully we can still smile at each other all the while.

As seen on my morning walk…