Over the last few months I’ve become more and more convinced. Despite saying things like “I just want things to go back to normal.” and the like, the world and the way we consume everything, has moved on.
For the first month of lockdown there was constant chatter about how much we missed live music, parties, gatherings, dining out, everything. We watched our favorite artists perform in their dens. We zoomed every damn thing we could, we lamented the loss and slowly, we’ve all moved on.
Desperation of want has slowly been replaced by acceptance of place. How we consume everything has changed. I’d posit for a long time.
The above looks a lot like doom and gloom, but let us not forget how much we’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with those closest to us. I do feel closer with my wife and kids. I think there are ample new opportunities to fill the holes that remain. What I don’t think is that virtual anything will be the answer. We crave humanity and virtual isn’t it.
Today I, like a lot of the world, completely wonder what the next 3 months will look like. I was in a meeting the other day about the races we are planning and what they will look like. “Will people come?” “What happens if we go backwards in case numbers or do people even care about that anymore?” We won’t relax until we’ve been able to get to the end of race week, and it will restart immediately after for the next race.
We’ve spent 6 months giving each other a wide berth, we quit touching each other. The other day I ran into a friend and the awkward hand shake, fist bump, what the eff are we supposed to do made my skin crawl. I just don’t know what to do anymore.
There won’t be a tidy ending here. As with the rest of this post, tidiness has moved along as well. What remains is unease sprinkled with hope. Not a hope for a return to the past, but a hope to throw our want into something fulfilling and new, with a renewed focus on the evolution of human consumption and interaction. Hopefully with love, logic and acceptance of where we are.
#hugsandhi5s
