Isa is reflective of the way many feel about 2020, as a whole. Spending the entire year frozen in ice, in hibernation - planning, dreaming, longing, and possibly even starving, all in a long wait for the thawing of the world. The energy turns to exhaustion, sometimes, when it isn’t released, but even exhaustion leads to sleep, which leads to new energy.
As bad as it is, even with death, even with hunger, we will rebuild in spring, and plan again, now that we have seen the depths of winter our ancestors did first hand. Many of us now know plague and hunger, even more than did before, and it is an awakening to prepare - not in a wild, end of the world, haphazard way, but in a practical safety sense. We need to keep improving, to be ready.
Personally, I spent less of 2020 than I’d have liked in isolation. I spent it as one of the essential, or more accurately sacrificial, workers. I had empathy for those alone though. I remember entire years in the past where leaving the house was a matter of going to the woods alone, where going to a store was something I did so rarely that by the time I needed to, and with the low income I had, the entire concept of money felt foreign and I wondered how anyone just randomly went into buildings and had random pieces of paper or plastic to plunk down for any items they didn’t absolutely need made in countries they didn’t visit. It was a bizarre window, a feral moment of questioning the entire way most people go about their days. I’m not trying to sound special by saying that. In fact, if anyone were able to remove themselves from that entire economic process long enough, it would probably feel weird coming back.
There is hidden danger in this time. As with ice, you cannot see Covid, and by the time you slip, (or uncautiously try to go out in public and down a crowded set of stairs,) your injuries cannot be predicted. Many act like it cannot hurt them. Perhaps some think that because they can ice skate, or are healthy, there is no danger. Only the elderly fall and break their hip, right?
Well... not quite.
Better yet to dream, to plan, to plant in pots on the windowsill to move on the moment you can.
Walking on ice unassisted requires paying a lot of attention. It requires skill, moving precisely and carefully. Ice is also clear - it lets us see through it, even if through the adrenaline spike of danger. In this time, we can see many of the things we took for granted, and find new ways to appreciate our lives and re-examine our priorities moving forward."Striving leads to failure, failure leads to wisdom, wisdom leads to maturity, maturity leads to success." - Wayland Skallagrimsson
