Pandemic Endurance & the Art of Choosing the Now

Imagine you just finished running a full marathon. You’re out of breath, exhausted, and your body is sore. All you want to do is go back home, kick up your feet, and rest. Then you are told you need to go back out there and run six more. There’s an ultramarathon, called Marathon des Sables (French for Marathon of the Sands), where runners need to do exactly this. The six-day 156-mile race is held in the Sahara Desert every year (except for this year, of course) and is considered the toughest foot race on Earth. Not only do athletes need to run the equivalent of six marathons over six days, but they need to deal with unbelievable heat, painful foot blisters, unforgiving sand dunes, and having to carry their own supplies.

I’m jealous of these runners.

Yes, you read that right. Despite the obvious hardships, I’m jealous because these runners get to choose whether or not to keep going. They have the option to say, “This is too much.” And, if they make the tough choice to continue, they are rewarded with forever bragging rights. We don’t have the luxury to choose this pandemic. We’re stuck in this psychological ultramarathon for the duration, along with every other human being on Earth (no bragging rights here). And it’s exhausting. Our endurance might be waning. And we have a long way to go.

The notion of having the power to choose to endure hardship got me thinking. Would our current situation feel different if we had the power to choose it? Would it be any easier to endure? For example, people choose to go on silent retreats for weeks or months at a time and come back refreshed and with a deeper connection to self. Other people volunteer to put themselves in the middle of a crisis and return home with a deep sense of purpose and perspective. And then, of course, there are the athletes who push their bodies and minds to the limit and finish with a stronger sense of achievement and confidence.

What if we could reframe our mindsets to powerfully choose to endure the current situation and the challenges we can anticipate?

What I’m talking about is being mindful of our energy and where we choose to focus it. For example, as we enter the holiday season in many parts of the world, the inclination for many of us will be to grieve the large gatherings and traditions from past years. We’ll focus on the parts of the traditions we loved and now lost, yearning for a day when we can get them back. What if we reset our minds to embrace the uniqueness of this moment and choose a more intimate or solitary holiday? What if we created a new tradition that serves us in ways the previous traditions couldn’t?

Choosing the now and embracing all its imperfections is only one of many different strategies for helping us to endure this pandemic. Here are a few others I’ve uncovered along my personal journey:

Be accountable for your energy. The only person accountable for your energy is you, and you need to own it. The first step in being accountable for your energy is writing down what drains you and what energizes you. Start with your “draining” list. Write down at least 5 items. Label each of these “In your control” (IC) or “Out of your control” (OC). Consider what it would take to let go of the things that are out of your control and think about ways you can limit the things that are in your control. This could include setting relationship boundaries with people who zap your energy. Now write down a longer list: 5-10 things that energize you. It is on you to integrate these energizing activities—listening to your favorite music, walking in nature, and exercising—into your daily practice. The goal is to be relentless about ensuring there’s more on the “energize” list than the “draining” list. This is a practice and requires intention. The more accountable each of us is to our own energy, the more present we can be in our professional and personal relationships.

Slow down and connect with your intuition. When we are overwhelmed, situations are ambiguous, and we need to make decisions that we don’t feel centered enough to make , we need to offer ourselves a “time out” to slow down, take some deep breaths, and reconnect with our intuition and purpose. My favorite place to go in these stressful moments has been the toilet. It’s always accessible and offers you a sanctuary where you can think about what will serve you best when you emerge from the bathroom and back into your world. Find your own space where you can take some deep breaths, re-center and connect with your inner knowing. Listen. Discover one step you can take to move forward. Just one. And then act.

Create safe spaces for vulnerability and empathy. When we think of endurance, we often think of physical and mental endurance, but emotional endurance is equally as important. Putting on a “brave” face will only work for so long; we need to create safe places for ourselves and others where we feel safe to process our emotions and be vulnerable with our manager, colleagues, or loved ones. This means creating a judgment-free zone, listening deeply to the emotions the other person is experiencing, asking open ended questions, and leaning in and saying: “Tell me more.” The more we can practice creating safe spaces for others the more we can discover ways and practices that will help us endure our challenges.  

I’d like to hear from you. In what ways has your approach to enduring the pandemic changed since the beginning? What has worked for you?