By Jim,
I’m not sugar-coating, or being glib or Pollyanna-ish, or anything, but here are a couple thoughts I’ve been having in this time of uncertainty…
Many of us very regularly bemoan the fact that we seem not to have as much time as we want or need to read, work out, organize, sleep, play guitar, indulge our hobbies, work in the yard, or take up a household project.
Although it may not be the way we would have asked that time to show up, Covid-19 has afforded some of us a lot of extra time. Some of us are working less, not working at all, working from home (no travel/commuter/traffic time), and time has been opened up.
It can be tempting, maybe compelling, to spend a lot of this time reading about the latest positive test in Missoula, or the Corona death rate in Sicily, or the seemingly endless eff-ups and gaslighting of the federal government, but…
We DO have a choice to not keep ingesting that “news” all darn day long, right? We are already informed. We know what to do. How many times do you have to be told to sing Happy Birthday twice, or mix rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel? We do have the choice to “give it a rest.”
In two days I read Hemingway’s “Garden of Eden” (I am a Hemingway fan, and did not even know it existed until I found it at the library yesterday, which, incidentally is now closed until further notice…)
I am organizing my papers. I suck at it, but with the extra time, well…
I am learning (or writing) new songs on the guitar. “I never have enough time for guitar tutorials on YouTube.” Guess what, complainer guy, you do now…Time to crush “Wondrin’ Where the Lions Are”…
I’ve been calling or Facetime-ing siblings and friends, more than usual. Or sending Marco Polos (a video ap) or What’s App-ing people. “I don’t have time to stay in connection with people….” Uh, yeah, you do.
In short, there are potential gifts here for many of us.
I totally get that losing income is not cool, and I get that some of us are still working, some even MORE than before. But many are not. Rather than get caught up in the hullaballoo and the fear, shift that energy to starting a new blog, like this one. Remember that the “news” outlets mostly exist to sell advertisements—that is their primary function, and make no mistake about that. They track our fear, and they feed it, and get you to stay tuned so they can sell you Oldsmobiles, or Marlboros, or whatever the hells.
Try to see this as unexpected free time to do the stuff you have been wanting to do for a long time. This is not bullcrap, it is not stretching. It is actually pretty true, right? See if that helps…
I’m off to read Kerouac’s Desolation Angels and some Billy Collins poems, and maybe do some case notes, but probly not……
It’s a good time to do Counseling/Life Coaching during these odd times….Working remotely with many via video….(Tele-mental-health is becoming all the rage, all over the country…I have been on it for a couple years now….)
__________________
Jim (the author), a psychologist since 1989, has served as the President of Southwestern College in Santa Fe, as the Director of Field Training for the School of Psychology for Walden University, and has worked extensively in university mental health and in private practice. If you live in Hawai’i or New Mexico, Jim is availble for counseling via messaging, audio, and video. Or, if you live outside Hawai’i and New mexico, skilled and caring therapists in your state are ready to connect online with you today! Visit www.smartcounseling.com and speak to Jim or another skilled therapist today!
