The Days Are Long, but the Years Are Short: A reflection on the time of COVID

When I was a young mother, attempting to keep my sanity while raising two very active toddler sons, I remember a neighbor saying to me, “The days are long, but the years are short – you will miss these experiences one day!”

At that moment in time, I was so exhausted, so overwhelmed and so short-fused that all I could do was feign a smile and think to myself, “Who the heck would ever look back on these moments of poop, puke and toddler melt-downs with fondness?! You, dear neighbor, are CRAZY.”

Yet here I am, nearly a decade later, acknowledging a timeless wisdom that is wrapped up in this short, and sometimes misunderstood statement. (But not for the obvious reasons you may think.)

During this time of cultural upheaval, brought about by the COVID pandemic and then amplified by the tragic and preventable deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and so many other people of color, we as a human race have been forced to slow down and reflect in ways that, for quite some time, have been thwarted by easy to access distractions alongside addictions to busyness, FOMO (fear of missing out) and for those that already have enough, a disconnected feeling of always “needing” more.

Uncomfortable reflections such as…

Fear of getting sick, and for many, a very real fear of dying.

Work from home mandates.

Witnessing, experiencing and/or grappling with injustice.

Social isolation.

Homeschooling children (while trying to also work from home OR not having the ability to stay home).

Job loss or home loss.

Political and cultural divisiveness.

Taking care of sick family/friends (or battling sickness yourself).

Anxiety linked to the timelines unknown.

These are just a few of the experiences that are defining the current time. With this type of communal and consistent high-stress emotional state, our current days feel long - very long indeed.

But, long days, when brought together in hindsight of the aggregate, are what allow us to see the gifts born out of such difficult times.?The seemingly endless stretches of long days help us to build new perspectives, to strengthen our quiet resilience and, in that very far-off time in a non-descript future, to recognize the organic change in mindsets that led us towards the next evolution of self.

This is where I feel the greatest potential lives within our current time. The potentiality of new mindsets – brought about by slowing down, by deepened reflection, by newly discovered empathy, and by a reassessment of where we can do better, in order to be better.

Ways in which I believe we can aspire to “be better” through this beautiful gift of mindset reset are:

• Empathizing and helping to ease the suffering of others, while in parallel, discovering and healing the suffering deep within ourselves.
• The reassessment of how systems from business to government have been hastily built on the weakest of foundations (with operational structures first & values integrated thereafter). We must now lead with values first and systems second to build resilient, human-centric and purpose-driven organizations and communities.
• A mindful acknowledgement of collective connection, where we begin to understand our broader responsibility of personal choice and how that ripples across people, places and time.

And the concept of time is truly in the eyes of the beholder, depending on where you are in midst of personal suffering.

As I think back to my initial reaction on my first introduction to this simple phrase of “The days are long, but the years are short”, I have come to realize that it is not about missing memories, it is about evolving and embracing new mindsets, and that is something I can truly reminisce on with fondness.

“The days are long, but the years are short” – with new mindsets born of the longest days, comes new hope for the years ahead.?