Lately I’ve been grieving the tiny things I think I’ll miss in the unknown future.
It’s usually a small thing that starts it. For instance, it seems unimaginable, after all the CoVid disinfecting we’ve done, that I will ever again feel comfortable rummaging through old jeans at a second hand shop. (No more bargains??) If I’m not the only one with these residual feelings, how is that going to change our world? No more church bazaars? No more rummage sales? What about shops like Value Village and Goodwill?? These potential changes are small things but I feel sad when they cross my mind.
Maybe your thing is rock concerts or theatre, or even opera… all of which put people together in far closer proximity than what will be safe for the rest of this year. What will our world look like when we are finally done with CoVid? Will theatres and other stadium venues survive the closure? Or will they simply become relics of an earlier time?
I don’t know the answers to any of these questions and I expect that the truth will be a lot like the truth that follows when I have a head cold. About 1/2 way through any extended bout of snuffles I’m certain that I’ll never get my sense of taste and smell back. But I do. And maybe this year of CoVid vigilance will be just like that… Maybe 2 years from now it will be as if CoVid never happened.
Somehow I find that a sad thought too… For after all this fuss and struggle, it would be nice if we actually learned something good and useful from it.
The Grief Recovery Method gives us skills to deal with change. Right now, the change that I’m grieving is the unknown future. Six months ago we all thought we knew what 2020 would hold. (more or less) Today, we all know that we don’t know… and knowing that we don’t know, brings a whole new kind of grief.
