Stocktaking, Not Stockpiling. By B.B. Kindred

Any self-isolators breaking those promises about getting on with the long overdue projects?  I was going to buckle down to writing more.  Suffice it to say the start is sluggish.  I wasn’t necessarily planning on a novel in the first instance.  They’re awfully hard work- unless you’re Stephen King, who’s clearly done a deal with the devil.  A couple of decent short stories to get me going is what I was thinking.  It’s mainly just the thinking at this moment in time.

            I imagine there’s been a bit of cupboard cleaning that’s found the out of date dry goods lingering in the recesses.  Something tells me the more enthusiastic food shoppers amongst us are going to be discovering quite a bit more of that down the line.  Which brings me to a whole other kind of cupboard.  This one has sell by dates, too, it’s the cupboard on the inside.  That storehouse of accumulated life.  You might want to consider having a sift through and see if there’s anything you can do without.  Now is a good time to jettison those things that might have been useful once, but are now gathering dust, taking up space and/or just being a general nuisance. When our hearts our heavy, it’s worth looking for anything that can lighten them.

            Our lives are often so busy and full of distractions that we don’t have the time or inclination to do the stocktaking instead of the stockpiling. I’m not suggesting we go down to the deepest corners of the emotional cellar, hearing the crackle of broken glass from the fallen lightbulb under our feet as we creep forward, arms outstretched in the dark.  The last thing we need to hear on our isolation walks are primal screams emanating from neighbour’s houses.

            Still, a sudden change in circumstances can harbour some surprising revelations about things we thought we’d miss and don’t, things we thought we wouldn’t miss and do.  And when it comes to those projects we believed would be worked on with enthusiasm once circumstances permitted- only now has our bluff been called.

            What thoughts preoccupy us now the time exists to have them?  Are we harbouring old grudges, emotional slights, thick skin built up that prevents us from fully experiencing our senses? Perhaps some of our wounds have healed all on their own, without us noticing and we no longer need to guard them so diligently.  That same solitude might lead us to forgive past wrongs that don’t seem quite as important in the context of what we now face.  Equally, it might lead us to confront them head on (in an appropriate manner) rather than leaving them to fester.  And then there’s all that stuff we were hanging on to because we thought it might come in useful one day, but really it never will.  It just takes up valuable space.  Maybe the time has come to let it go.

            Even for those who find themselves more busy rather than less, being brought back to the basics can allow life to be viewed in a different way.  And in between the drifting, skyping, snacks and box sets, we may find our priorities and perspectives shifting to accommodate a new way of being before we celebrate our return to the outside world.