How you got here, and how to get out

“How did we get here?” – I keep running into that question almost every day, whether it’s in conversations across the socials, in person, you name it. Sometimes it’s in reference to the really huge picture stuff – how did we get here, seemingly on the brink of WW3, how did we get here where people are cancelled for questioning a policy or a study, how did we get here, exhausted, isolated, over-worked, under-sunned and generally feeling like what the hell happened. One minute it was Dec 31st 2018 and the next minute we’d been teleported into some form of dystopian future.

The technical answer is ‘Mission Creep’.

The personal body of legislation that you choose to run your life by has allowed temporary and extraordinary measures to become detrimentally commonplace.

It’s incrementalism – sometimes purposeful and guided, sometimes it’s all happenstance and coincidence. A necessary sacrifice here, a deviation from the normal there. This isn’t about intentions – the road to hell is paved with good intentions – the point is that it happens and it’s all lead to some very weird and consequential outcomes.

But ?before we try to untangle the gordian knot of complex and potentially well meaning steps that lead us to the seemingly stark raving lunacy of the world today perhaps we can take the concept of mission creep and see how it works in our own little sphere of existence and what to do about it.

Most of us don’t set out to let our physical health slide, or our mental health take a back seat, or all manner of transgressions that seem to suddenly have become insurmountable.

It was incremental – too little time to get some fitness on so it takes a back seat today, then this week, this month. Then it’s suddenly hard to get started on the whole healthy journey. I’m getting older, it’s more than reasonable to be a little less ‘Adonis-like’ than my younger self.

Maybe it was just a couple of last minute emails to tidy a few things up, then it’s just a quick hour on Sunday to respond to a few things, now its every night for a bit just to, you know stay, ahead.

Mission creep – the intention was good but slowly over time the goal posts moved, things that were previously undesirable were gradually becoming acceptable, then finally, the norm. Eventually they are accepted and self-evident truths. I work six days, I don’t exercise, I’m too tired to read or expand my knowledge or go for a ride with the kids or to notice that years are flying by in our relationship with the whole thing on self-drive mode.

So what? What do you want me to do about it? ?You stop and take stock of where you are and perhaps some of the ‘good intentions’ that got you there. And then you ‘Sunset’ some stuff. The concept comes from legislation and good governance (bear with me). Legislation that is enacted during complex or emergency times – such as we have seen time and time again – should, if it’s well intentioned – have something called a sunset clause. A clause that sets out a clear end date – we believe these measures are necessary now to deal with this but there will be a time when we need to go back, to surrender these powers or behaviours – because they are not in our best interest long term.

Take stock – where do you need some sunset clauses. Some closure on some loopholes that began as less than ideal but temporarily necessary and transitioned into absolutely normal. This is the opposite of that gradual mission creep – it’s a closing of the loophole, ripping off the bandaid. No more emails or work on the weekends, no more alcohol at home during the week, we’re walking the dog every day or going for a jog, or putting the ipads away and learning to play cards with your kids. It’s dinner without the kids or your phones with your significant other on the regular, it’s no soft drink in the house. It’s a myriad of small actions that can be halted, easily, summarily, and that bring all the mission creep to a stop and allow you to transition back to the way it should – in good times.

How did we get here – we onboarded incremental sacrifices, giving up of freedoms, acceptable losses, transient measures that became not so transient.

Find them. Hunt them out in your own life. Sunset them and return to better times.

This is how we get out of ‘here’.