Bochner (1997) spoke of our need (as humans) to keep fear sedated because we sense it could infect us if we let it go. At the outset of the pandemic, a fear was rising in all of us and it was inevitable that we reached for anything which would allow us to feel in control of something, anything. For those lucky enough to keep their jobs, there were lots of virtual meetings.
For most, these zoom calls are either banal gatherings, from which you emerge wondering if you could have done the washing or weeding in that long 90 minutes you will never get back or gut-wrenching management calls from which you emerge exhaling loudly that your organisation can survive for another while. With so much of that wonderful brain of yours to handle, we know it’s hard to think clearly. However, what if the luxury of this stationary time could be fashioned for something worthwhile for you and your future? We have seen casual artists pick up a paintbrush and emerge as a portrait phenomenon, everyday communities galvanising to ensure our most vulnerable communities are well-tended. The question is, what are you waiting for?
Not posed in a challenging way but as a gentle provocation. Are you sitting with a pain of waiting for things to get better or worse and hang on to some childish hope that you might just emerge unscathed? What about something inviting something in? Not loads of people and covid of course, (social distancing rules apply), but what intention will bring a different type of future to your door? So let’s invite the silence, hold the fear at bay and make time for boredom, it’s the only time creativity is going to come knocking hard on your door. That beautiful and elusive gift we all have inside of us but the rational world has quietened it as it doesn’t scream as loudly as all the other more demanding parts of us. If after a century, social and behavioural science has not notably improved our capacity to predict and control (Gergen, 1982) let’s make time for nothingness. Gently nudge the fear aside and welcome something else. It may change your life.
References
Bochner, A. P. (1997). It’s about time: narrative and the divided self. Qualitative Inquiry. 3(4) 418 – 438.
Gergen, K.(2009). An invitation to social construction, Social construction: Revolution in the making. (pp. 1-30). London: Sage.
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