MUSINGS and other writing by Mark Kolke

. . . . . . there is no edge to openness

TODAY'S MUSINGS

FEEDBACK / COMMENTS

MARK SPEAKS

ARCHIVED COLUMNS

ARCHIVE WINTER 2022-23

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2022

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2022

ARCHIVE SPRING 2022

ARCHIVE WINTER 2021-22

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2021

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2021

ARCHIVE SPRING 2021

ARCHIVE WINTER 2020-21

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2020

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2020

ARCHIVE SPRING 2020

ARCHIVE WINTER 2019-20

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2019

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2019

ARCHIVE SPRING 2019

ARCHIVE WINTER 2018-19

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2018

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2018

ARCHIVE SPRING 2018

ARCHIVE WINTER 2017-18

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2017

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2017

ARCHIVE SPRING 2017

ARCHIVE WINTER 2016/17

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2016

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2016

ARCHIVE SPRING 2016

ARCHIVE WINTER 2015/16

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2015

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2015

ARCHIVE SPRING 2015

ARCHIVE WINTER 2014/15

ARCHIVE AUTUMN 2014

ARCHIVE SUMMER 2014

ARCHIVE SPRING 2014

ARCHIVE WINTER 2013/14

CONTACT

MY REAL ESTATE LIFE

WHY I WRITE MUSINGS

SHORT STORY PROJECT

POETRY PROJECT

MARK'S SPEAKING TIPS

SELECTED OTHER WORK

AS YOU WERE

Sunday, Mar. 29, 2020
 
 
When soldiers salute superiors, officers sometimes reply, “As you were.”, indicating authority to go back to what they were doing before that interruption.
 
We are living through an interruption like no other, ever. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go.
 
Not really. Everything, so different, disquieting – urge to return to how things were stunting my energy and productivity. I’m getting things done but not the most important, most exciting, or innovative.
 
Yes, attending to urgent matters, picking away at others without ‘action plan, clear objectives, and an execution strategy’ as I would usually employ.
 
Plenty of time for sleep, but I can’t sleep well. I’m putting in the hours, but not getting quality rest.
 
I’m neither quarantined nor ill (I’m not just back from a trip required to self-isolate) – my isolation, my solitary confinement, is voluntary. I can go out. I can go to my office-office as opposed to spending my day at home, at work, at couch, at tub, at bed, at dining room table ~ not normal or routine work in any way.
 
There will be a ‘resume button’ to press.
 
One day soon, or not.
 
The alternative is worth pondering for all of us.
 
We could wait for governments and corporations to tell us to resume. Or we could wait until infectious disease and ICU doctors allow us to resume. Clearly, those bodies of knowledge and power cannot agree right now.
 
So, what should we do?
 
While the best answers we could hope for will come from medical research laboratories, we shouldn’t be holding our breath, not resuming ‘the way we were’ too soon.
 
When the time comes, sooner or later, the pressure to control the COVID-19 spread will come; when it does, our roads and buildings will look the same, but the landscape of our lives will be different. Some will be little things – like the space we afford one another, our hand-washing frequency, and or concerns about many little things we do, which will stay changed. Many things will return to normal, retail spending will bump as pent-up demand for non-essentials, haircuts, socializing, and ‘doing business’ snaps back like a rubber band.
 
If this continues for a few weeks, that will be our experience. We’ll get over our numbness, we’ll all have a few stories to tell.
 
And if not, if a few weeks becomes a few months – our outcomes will be different. While I hope for a short term result as much as anyone, I don’t think we would be wise to consider only that alternative. This equation of ‘the pace of infection’ and the ‘supply of ventilators’ is neither quick nor straightforward.  This is obvious to airlines, to governments, to everyone who manufactures products for health care, and for our lives.
 
Psychologists understand behavior modification; I don’t know enough about it to write with any authority, but I’m feeling my behavior is being modified – not intentionally by anyone particular, or by me, but by circumstance.
 
When we are done on this collective quest to return to the way things were, none of us will be able to return to ‘as you were.’


Find this and other articles by Mark Kolke at Medium



sign up to get Musings free daily



 
Read more of my writing by Mark Kolke at Medium

sign up to get Musings free daily

 


 
Mark Kolke, Realtor, MaxWell South Star Realty


sign up to get Musings CLICK HERE

Comments are always welcome - please contribute to the discussion.  Reply to: kolke@markkolke.com

You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. This site is updated daily, each column is retained in the archive when the next day's column is loaded ...  


Copyright - all rights reserved - Mark Kolke, © 2003-2023 - MaxComm Communications

- this site is updated daily, new column on main page, older columns archived - use the tabs; last update - 2023 - January, 28