Head & Heart #43: Distraction and preparedness
Trying to to find perspective and calm against the backdrop of COVID-19
Tonight I spent 10 minutes diving into my green waste bin to retrieve my recyclables. I must have accidentally emptied them into the wrong bin yesterday. This is the kind of the dumb shit I do when I’m distracted and not paying attention.
Like many, I am finding myself increasingly distracted by the COVID-19 news and developments. While I don’t have any knowledge or insight or wisdom to contribute to the discussion, it feels odd to write about anything else right now (at least without first acknowledging the wider context in which I'm writing). Living outside of the city (and in the fortunate position of working from home and having plenty of toilet paper (thanks to our Who Gives a Crap subscription)) we feel quite insulated from much of the fear and panic, but it's still interesting to notice how distracted and unfocused I am and how I feel pulled toward checking news/social media regularly. At a time when it’s important that we’re thinking clearly and acting calmly, the more informed I strive to be (through consuming endless Internet updates and opinion pieces), the more distracted I end up.
But beyond thinking about the immediate status updates and impacts, I've also been pondering what this means for community and connection and resilience at an individual, local community and global level. Kristen Bradley from Milkwood Permaculture has some insightful, useful things to say about preparedness from a permaculture perspective (which are relevant regardless of whether or not you practice or know anything much about permaculture).
Community is the key here. Preparedness of the ‘fortress’ type is not what we consider resilience – it’s not long-term effective or desirable, on any level. As Prof Tim Flannery said about the climate crisis: “no-one can outrun this – we have to stand and face it”. Together.
The same is true for many of the shocks we’ll face as communities. So get prepared on a household level, and then think about what preparedness looks like in your community, and work towards that.
Investing in any of the actions suggested in Kristen’s post seems like a much more practical, positive, constructive thing to do than constantly checking my phone!
The five
(Five things that are adding value or bringing joy to my life right now....)
Being a beginner. Ella and I have started doing some geocaching (we had our first two ‘finds’ last weekend). The Fleurieu is full of caches so this feels like a fun way to get outside and explore our new region (who doesn’t like a treasure hunt?!). We’ve also pulled out the chess set a couple of times and are learning how to play together. It’s actually really nice to be a complete beginner at the start of learning something new and to share that experience with E.
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. This book consists of forty vignettes imagining what the afterlife might be like. I haven’t finished it yet, but I can’t stop thinking about one of the stories, Circle of Friends (which is included in this NY Times excerpt.)
“If Only You Would Listen” from School of Rock the Musical. Ella was going to see School of Rock next weekend (although it now looks like that won’t be happening) so we’ve been listening to the soundtrack in preparation. ‘Listening’ is a big theme for me (personally and professionally) so this song - ‘If Only You Would Listen’ - makes me a little teary every time I hear it. Listen to the kids peeps!
The case of the missing hit (ep #158 of Reply All). Sometimes it’s nice to have a break from the serious or self-development focused stuff that normally fills my podcast feed. This was such an entertaining 50 minutes and had me smiling all the way through!
WIR 100. Emily and I exchanged our 100th week-in-review (WIR) email last week! Definitely a cause for celebration - not just because the practice has been so impactful in my life, but also because there are very few positive, healthy habits I’ve actually sustained for 100 weeks or more! How it works…. each week on a Friday, Em and I write our responses to a set of reflective questions and then email them to each other. The core questions ask: what went well?, what did I learn/notice/observe?, and what am I grateful for? And we’ve added (and subtracted) other questions relating to values, what we’re reading/watching/listening to, and what we’re creating. It’s no surprise that a reflective journalling practice is valuable (plenty of blogs and books and podcasts will tell you that) but of course the hard part is actually doing it and maintaining that practice. Two things have been really important in continuing this practice (and they apply to any behaviour change/habit formation).
Accountability to email Em each week. There is no way that I would have maintained the practice without it. Knowing Em is expecting a message from me and will be sending me one of her own is enough to guilt me into doing it. I don't want to let Em down or be the one that causes the practice to fall over.
Setting a low bar (our commitment is to send an email with a minimum of a few words - more often than not we far exceed it). We also have no expectation that the other person will reply or acknowledge the email from the other which is also really important in not making the practice feel like a chore.
Photo taken on the Stringybark Loop Walk @ Deep Creek Conservation Park.