When you’re a child, there are certain rights of passage that are considered building blocks to adulthood. Moments that are anticipated, celebrated and memorialized as the milestones they are.
Yet as an adult, experience provides a type of x-ray lense through which to view the real formative moments of our youth. Ones that shaped us, leaving us impacted for decades, despite there being no pomp and circumstance to mark that they occurred.
We are a society that places great pride in resiliency, a badge that has only gained more clout as we emerge from a global pandemic where we’ve applauded with much fanfare people’s ability to hold on. Yet what’s missing is real dialogue about what is at stake when we’re encouraging people to ignore their instincts to move on all in the name of the pursuit of seeing things through.
The litany of “what ifs” has run the gamut throughout the past year – literally 365 days of living on repeat, holding our breath for more of the same while simultaneously waiting for the next germ-filled bomb to drop. We’ve disguised our discomfort with nervous laughter about the predictability of comfy pants, failed homeschooling attempts, and copious amounts of alcohol consumed.
Yet beneath it all, our insides are rattled as we wonder, when will this all be done?
There may be no greater evidence of a generational divide than how people of different decades view the topics of health and longevity.
While younger populations have developed a seeming obsession with prevention and preservation, those who have come before us remain devout to a mindset of thoroughly enjoying their time on this planet.
Why is it so hard to admit the feelings that arise when we acknowledge that for many of us, things we had worked years to build – be it relationships, businesses, or, yes, lifestyles – effectively have been dismantled without a moment’s notice?
Where is the grieving? When do we get to talk about what we’ve lost?
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