Mental Oasis

We’re not gonna mention the war. We won’t talk about that thing that’s on the edge of everyone’s covered breath. There’s no point. You hear about it enough now. Let’s talk about that which isn’t mentioned, the unperceivable benefit it has brought to our lives. This benefit is obvious if you take a step back from the panic. If you take a break from how freaked you are about not seeing your friends, or not being able to go out, you’ll see the opportunity that lies before you.

Too often I’ve complained, be it verbally or to myself, about how busy my life is. “I don’t have time for X”. My life is too busy to work on that thing that I’ve been putting off for so long. But now my life isn’t that busy and yet, I still find myself not working on that one thing. What does that say? It says that I’ve been making excuses.

What we have no now, aside from the obvious panic, is an opportunity for growth. Yet many of us won’t take advantage of that. Many of us will sit on the couch all day and watch TV, and complain about how unfair it all is and make no effort to better ourselves. Many of us will do this. It’s a defeatist mind-set.

You know those mornings when you open the curtains and the ice had already crawled up the windows? Those mornings when it’s so cold outside that when you step out you can’t even feel the cold. There’s ice everywhere and you can’t the cold doesn’t register for a few moments? Those moments are some of my favourites because your body hasn’t let the cold in, it hasn’t let the potential negativity infect it, just for a few moments.

We’re in one of those moments now. There’s a lot of bad things going on right now. People are getting sick. Sadly, some people are dying. The reality of that doesn’t have to conquer your own reality. You can acknowledge this horror for what it is and still develop as a person. You can hone a skill, become more compassionate, get fit. You can do all of these positive things to bring value to your life and still understand the gravity of the situation at hand.

Never has there been a time in my life where I have so much time to indulge. I can spend an hour talking bollix to my parents and still be productive in the same day. I can have a good lie in and still make sure I get everything I wanted to do that that day gets done. You have so much opportunity to work on yourself, your relationships, your craft. Yet a lot of us will sit back and watch TV and complain about how boring, or unfair, or ridiculous the situation is.

Fuck that mentality. You’ve never had more free time in your life. You can either make that time well-spent or you can come out of this saying that was a huge waste of time. I know which camp I’m staying in.