Tag: social distancing

The Art of Social Distancing: Part 4, Distant Early Warning

What does any of this have to do with anything? How does this fit at all? What does this even have to do with social distancing as we are coming to understand it in 2020?  What am I even writing about?

Just a few of the questions circling the squirrel cage since I started writing this series. Which, by the way, began with the intention of being a single piece. The reality is, the creative juices have not been flowing as usual. You would think ideas would be flowing like a class five river right now. Not the case. At least not for writing. I am turning out pieces at a snail’s pace.

I am not even delivering very much content at all. My regular posting schedule has come to a halt, my story posts and updates have come to a halt, and my daily reports have come to a halt. This is an unfrequented time ripe with inspiration yet I am not channeling it as I usually would. My head tells me I should be pumping out content like crazy right now. I should be documenting what we are doing as a business o get through this unprecedented time but all I get is a blank screen, blank paper, no tape rolling. Wow, did I just age myself there?

I do blame part of it on the pie shop. When we started on this new venture it really turned my schedule upside down. The truth is, that is just an excuse. Entrepreneurs need to be flexible and adaptable. New schedule? No problem, I will l move my writing time to this part of the day. I will exercise in the evening  and I will record my videos between x & x. That is how one must adapt to changing environments. If I am too rigid I will break.

The good news is, the juices are still flowing, just in a different direction right now. I am coming up with endless ideas for the pie shop. One recipe after another. New product here, new strategy there, so many that I forget most before I have a chance to write them down. That is just about par for the course. I forget more thoughts, ideas, poems, products; you name it, than I ever remember. Most of which come to me during one of my social distancing practices of running or bike riding. They come and they go all before I return home with a chance to write them down.

All this brings to mind so many questions. Questions about our current situations, questions about our response as a country, our response as citizens, our response as individuals, questions about our past, and questions about our future. So many questions and so many more. Too many questions for one mind to ponder.

But I guess the most important question is will we learn from this? Will I learn from this? Will we heed this as a warning to be better prepared in the future. Will we take this as a warning to live better today? Will we take this as a warning to become a stronger country? A stronger people?

The reality is I can’t answer these for others or predict how the world, the US or our citizens, and elected officials will act or respond. I can’t answer what anyone else will learn from this and carry into tomorrow. I can only speak for myself. And the truth is, I don’t know.

Of course, I hope I will learn from all this. I hope I will start doing the things today that will better prepare and safeguard me, my family, my businesses, and all the things I truly care about for what might happen in the future. Not an excessive, obsessive doomsday preparation but at least have basic safeguards and plans in place. You can’t plan for everything.

I hope I will start documenting more today to have more to share tomorrow. To have more ideas shared than lost in the squirrel cage. I hope most of all that this will serve as, yet another, distant early warning that we never know what the future holds. That life is fragile and precious. That all we ever really have is life in this moment.

Can I learn to be present each moment and live my life with purpose and meaning when the panic recedes? When the fear subsides? When life as we know it, or knew it, returns? Will life ever return to normal? Can I learn to live every day as me? Just me, not worrying about what others think? Not worrying about my shyness? Not judging you or wondering if you’re judging me? See? More questions. Sometimes I simply think too much.

I can end this by saying life has been good the last couple week despite the circumstances. Why? Because I let the fear come and I let it go without taking a hold of me. I stopped worrying about everything and began accepting that this how it is right now. I decided to accept life on life’s terms, stop fighting or forcing it, and live in the moment.

Can I carry it forward? Time will tell, one moment at a time.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

The Art of Social Distancing: Part 3, Going The Distance

The real question is, can I go the distance? The cliché is true; life is a marathon, not a sprint. Can I maintain a positive pace of no judgment where I truly do not care what you think of me? Can I maintain a head space free of judgment toward myself and others? Probably not.

Why? Because I am human. I am imperfect. Perfectly imperfect as my mom says. I am in a constant race to get ahead of the competition. Constantly finding the path of least resistance in order to out do, out pace, and out last so I can cross the finish line first. Therein lies the foundation for my judgment.

I am surrounded by everyone else in the race. When I’m falling behind it’s easier to look outward and judge others than look at myself. Accountability is no fun. If I look at myself, I might see something I don’t want to see. It’s easier to say “Look at that one with the fancy shoes and matching outfit, what a clown.” “Look at him, he runs like a chicken.” It’s easier to say, “These shoes are slowing me down.” When I am passing people it’s easy to pat myself on the back to inflate my ego. Most of the time I am constantly racing to find the happy place. When I feel less than or judged, I do not feel happy. Projecting that back on you lifts me up and propels me closer to my happy place, or so I thought.

The reality is that most of what I judge you for is the very things I dislike in myself. Although, oftentimes I don’t even realize it, mirrors do a great job of reflecting the image of a stranger. The people that bother me and bottleneck my race are the mirrors displaying all the things I need to work on. Of course, I’d rather not admit that, it’s much easier to just judge you. Until it isn’t.  

At this point in the race I have crossed the halfway marker. I am inside the final half of my journey. I have learned through the process that the more you do something the easier it becomes. I have found this equally true for both positive and negatives behaviors. The more I judged, the easier it became. Eventually that judgment becomes a natural behavior that no longer requires rationalization or justification. It simply becomes a seamless part of my standard behavioral patterns.

Until you find yourself alone in the race. There are no more competitors. No more mirrors. No more people to judge, or blame except for yourself. You stand alone. The only way back is to dig deep and see where you went wrong. Implement change and correct course. This half of the race is all about fine tuning, honing, and perfecting what has been learned. Suddenly the mirrors reappear and on the good days, the person looking back is not a stranger, it is exactly who you strive to be.

I really do still prefer to socially distance myself and limit my outside world interactions. As I shared in the previous part, it’s not because I am a jerk. I am just more of a home body that doesn’t do well with small talk and socializing. I like to read, write, run, ride, work in the garden, and just hang out at home and be. Although I do have quite a hard time sitting still. I am a doer, just not a big talker.

However, in life we do not always get to do what we selfishly want. I have learned art of compromise to participate more and be a part of. I have learned to be gentler on myself and others. I have learned to accept myself and others. Of course I revert, I am only human, but the question I posed in the opening is still top of mind; can I go the distance? Only time will tell. All I can do is my best, one day at a time.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live