Leaving the Gaps Unplugged....

'The earth spins, on its axis One man struggles, while another relaxes'
Massive Attack, The Hymn of the Big Wheel*

I don’t know if I believe that things happen for a reason, but we can certainly find reason in what happens. There are a plethora of explanations for why - on a global scale- we might have needed to collectively press the pause button on human activity. We have arguably all, to greater or lesser degrees, been caught up in a global mania that has spiralled out of control. The arguments have been much chewed over, but rampant capitalisation, the ills of globalisation, consumerism in the extreme, the quest for more and more and more of everything, fuelled by innate human dissatisfaction and exaggerated by all pervasive social media- it is undoubtedly the perfect storm and only the very rare & resolute have lived completely beyond its reach.

It needs not said that the world will be grateful for our stopping. It already is. We’ve all no doubt heard of the drop in pollution levels in China ( I read something somewhere that the lives saved by a reduction in pollution in China could easily outstrip their deaths from COVID-19 - food for thought even if it is never entirely verifiable). Europe is enjoying skies that are 40 percent more free of pollution. We are now able to see Venus over Britain, much to astronomers delight. And I can not stop thinking about the waters of Venice running clear, or the image of swans returning to their canals. 
As here in the Northern Hemisphere Spring continues its steady unfurling march onwards, its hard not to think that it might be doing so with a little more space this year. We will undoubtedly all remember - for the rest of our lives potentially- the period when the world stopped and took a deep breath. But perhaps only fruitfully, if we do so too.

I am acutely aware that for many people this is the hardest of times. Front line NHS workers to whom we will all owe a unrepayable debt - acknowledged so emotionally by the nationwide clapping on Thursday night. I sincerely hope that happens again. 
Those whose livelihoods, many of them decades in the making, that have gone up in smoke. 
The many who will have economic hardship gnawing in the pit of their stomach, stealing their sleep in those early hours. And the working mothers who have been turned overnight into school teachers and for whom each week will be nothing but an impossible juggle. Not least, those who lose loved ones before their time to the virus itself. 
It would be churlish to say that everyone will see this as a gift.
But some will. Many say they already do. It is a testament to how time poor we have let ourselves become that alongside the anxieties and concerns there also seems to be a collective sigh of relief that we are being offered up a break from the usual. It suggests too that ‘getting back to normal’ should not necessarily be our aim. 
But there is a very real danger too, that if we aren't mindful, ‘old world’ manias start to enter into isolation. ‘Nature abhors a vaccum', and so too- it seems-does the human mind. The creativity that has been thrown up by the threat and actuality of isolation has been staggering. Online offerings, which had already begun to have traction, have literally exploded. I hold my hand up to say that I jumped just as quickly on the ‘Zoom’ bandwagon and taught three brimming yoga classes this week whose collective energy was off the scale. If you weren't there last week then consider joining next week. They were tonics, no less.

So much of what is happening is of course wholly good. From the confines of our homes we can learn a language, take up guitar, practice calligraphy, have virtual drinks with friends we haven't seen for far too long. There are online poker games, chess championships and community pub quizzes, every bit as amusing as their real world counterparts. We are bombarded daily with funny snippets, recommended reading lists, podcasts that are essential to listen to, articles that are must reads. We can watch live streamed open mic nights, recordings of Royal opera house ballet. It is like an online festival of ideas and opportunity, and it smacks of human genius and brilliance and resilience and creativity- but it is also potentially overwhelming. Without careful curation, we could feel as bombarded & inadequate in our isolated lives as we so often do in the real world. 

Just because we can, doesn't mean we should. Whilst coming out of this with a new skill or hobby will be a good thing if we find it, so too will having taken some much needed time to simply reflect, to be as a family, to get more comfortable with simple living and leaving gaps unfilled. As Matt Haig said, ‘The current era is crap enough without having to feel guilt that we aren't learning Greek and painting watercolours of daffodils’. 
I have always said that a life with gaps around its edges is one that is essential for well being; physical, mental and emotional. This might just be the time - amongst other things- to master leaving gaps unplugged that as a necessary art form.