Spend Wisely the Time Given Us
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
– J. R. R. Tolkien
How are you spending your days these days?
I have been writing to my heart’s content. More on that in a moment.
During this COVID19 pandemic, I have found myself thinking back to the days and weeks following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on Sept 11th, 2001. That, too, was an extremely difficult and challenging time for many people. Fear, anger and hate were common emotions…balanced, thankfully, by a phenomenal outpouring of love, compassion and kindness.
9-11 was a pivotal time in history. So is what we are experiencing now…only this time, we are under attack of a different sort: a highly contagious virus.
The difference in my emotional and psychological response to these two global events is night and day.
When 9-11 happened, I was in an extremely fragile emotional and psychological state, since it had only been a year since my husband John (a police officer) died. My reaction to 9-11 was completely fear-based…I was terrified of what the future might hold. I also worried that I was going off the deep end again because everything going on in the world seemed somehow connected to me.
Even though I had dozens of wonderful caring people still supporting me in my grief, my personal psychological response to a global event was disconcerting…and therefore isolating.
It can be really difficult - and embarrassing - to be thinking differently than the herd. Click To TweetIn hindsight, I strongly suspect that the collapse of the World Trade Centre – and the death of thousands of people, including police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders – was a trigger for me…a post-traumatic stress response whereby my mind made a connection between two completely unrelated events and my heart responded as if it was the same event.
But when a crisis hits, we can only respond the best we can with wherever we’re at – emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, financially, physically. Thankfully, my mental and emotional state improved a heck of a lot faster after 9-11 than it did after John’s death.
This excerpt from my book, “A Widow’s Awakening,” took place three weeks after the Twin Towers were attacked. I was visiting New York City on my own, and found myself wandering around a rather deserted Central Park:
I head over to the Bronx Zoo and am standing in front of the bear enclosure, watching an old timer snoozing in the sun, when an older woman comes up to me.
“He’s not too worried about world events,” she says.
“No kidding.”
The woman, a zoo volunteer, proceeds to enthusiastically tell me about the bear’s history, personality and daily habits. I’m inspired by her commitment. This is her tiny corner of the world and despite all that’s happened she still takes her job seriously.
Then I go to the New York Public Library bookstore and buy The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand. I sit on the front steps and am flipping through the book when a quote catches my eye: “Organisms don’t struggle because they must evolve; they evolve because they must struggle.” Clunk. Because of my struggles this past year, I am evolving. I feel a faint stirring inside, as if that part of myself that fell alongside Sam is finally trying to get back up again.
That was a pivotal moment for me in my grieving process. That zoo volunteer taught me more about how to respond, in a constructive way, to a crisis than a hundred self-help books ever did.
If I had to sum up her message, this would be it: when things don’t go the way we had hoped, there is always one thing we do still have control over: how we respond to the situation.
During this pandemic, until we are told otherwise, we can – and must – continue to do our part to help stop the spread of the virus by staying home, staying well, staying calm, staying present, staying clear of other people and obsessively washing our hands.
But in addition to this, I also know there is a great deal of actual work I need to be accomplishing during this forced time-out. And I certainly am.
Not only have I been moving some significant writing projects forward, I have also, at long last, finally got around to starting again on unpacking the dozens of unopened boxes from moving in more than a year ago. The amount of paper – after purging files – picked up by the recycling truck outside my home the other morning was shocking.
Better out than in, yes.
But here’s an uncomfortable little nugget of truth I have had to admit about myself: if I had spent more time over the past nineteen years actually doing the work to complete the projects – instead of wasting precious time, energy, money and resources researching, thinking about, planning, printing, filing, organizing my ideas and waiting on the green light from other people before proceeding – I would be WAY further ahead today on accomplishing the projects that really matter to me.
Ouch.
Alas, I cannot change the past. But I can learn from it…and move forward accordingly. That’s another bonus this pandemic is giving me: time to reflect on what has not worked on the past so that I can move forward more effectively in the future.
As for my writing these days, this quote sums up the experience rather nicely:
“Days tumbled on days, I was in my overalls, didn’t comb my hair, didn’t shave much, consorted only with dogs and cats, I was living the happy life of childhood again…I was as nutty as a fruitcake and happier. Sunday afternoon, then, I’d go to my woods with the dogs and sit and put out my hands palms up and accept handfuls of sun boiling over the palms.”
– Jack Kerouac, “The Dharma Bums”
No dogs to take on walks these days 🙁 and I go to the beach instead of the woods…but I am most definitely nuttier than a fruitcake 🙂
I am extremely grateful that I am able to take full advantage of the time freed up, thanks to COVID19, to focus on my writing and other work…and not have the horrible financial worries hanging over my head about how the heck to pay my rent or mortgage next month.
Not for a moment do I forget that millions of others around the planet are not so lucky. My prayers go out to everyone who is impacted by this virus – physically, economically, emotionally and mentally. I am not an essential worker and I certainly won’t be finding the vaccine for COVID19 anytime soon. But I can stay home and make wise use of this down-time.
In fact, I feel a bit of moral obligation TO make constructive use of my time because so many others are putting their own health on the line, day in and day out, for the common good. They are doing their jobs…I shall do mine.
As for dealing with the social isolation, that’s not an issue for this cowgirl.
I heard Margaret Atwood being interviewed on the radio the other night and she summed it up perfectly when she said something to the effect of: “Writers live in social isolation all the time…this is nothing new for us.”
Amen sister.
Here are a few more photos of my daily rounds in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island:
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.
6 thoughts on “Spend Wisely the Time Given Us”
Loved this article Maryanne, thanks!
Oh my goodness you certainly are my spirit sister but further along on the journey then I! This is so much like what I said oin my blog (or wanted to say, you said it alot better!). Thanks so much for your support.
Hi Spirit Sister! That can be the name of our You Tube show!! I think you are pretty darn far along on your journey, Lynne…look at you go, gazelle!!! SO proud of you 🙂
Glad you liked this blog…it took me awhile to get it to where I wanted it. Sometimes it is really challenging to figure out WHAT we are trying to communicate…then we have to figure out the best way HOW to.
Hugs from the island,
ma
Yay! Glad it resonated with you. I still get a laugh out of your ‘Rona wear, Trisha…that gas mask thing was quite something. My grocery-shopping look is a little more subdued. I will post the pic on Insta. I look like I am going to rob a bank not buy apples 🙂
Take care,
ma
The stories of your life alway draw me in and I can’t help but read everything you write. So look forward to spending some time with you again, way in the future, I imagine. Covid19 is affecting each of us so differently. I think I’ll need a big “rest” when it’s all over and things are somewhat back to normal. Continue to stay safe and keep in touch. Love you lots!
I think you are right…I, too, am going to need a rest once this is all over. I don’t think I have ever worked so hard in my life. Go figure, eh?! It just seems like the right time for me to get a heck of a lot of writing & other work done…but boy, is it exhausting! And yes, this pandemic is affecting each us so very differently. I hope you guys are doing okay…take care and I am sending you a big safe hug from Vancouver Island!
Love MA