Statistically speaking, it takes anywhere from 21 to 66 days to form a new habit. That means many of us are either well on our way towards completely leaving behind our pre-Covid assumptions about life… or are already there.
Add me to the chorus of voices asking what life looks like as we move forward. While I’m fairly certain face masks will become a normalized part of society (and having lived in Asia, I can assure you that’s not a bad thing), I’m wondering if social distancing will last, how strong a stomach Americans have for future viral waves, what limitations may be placed on individuals as we redefine our society, and whether or not the airline industry will be forced to finally admit that a little leg room and one’s own arm rest might now be a bad thing after all.
Things are going to change. They are. Those plexiglass dividers grocery stores rushed to erect between customers and cashiers? Most of them are not coming down. Telemedicine portals and protocols, now that they’re more established, will replace many of the in-person visits we’ve always known. Government schools will, from this day forward, have in place plans that will eliminate the lull most communities experienced in taking their learning online.
But what about us, as individuals? What will our new norms be? Will we be more mindful of maintaining an emergency pantry? Will that daily walk after dinner feel as needful after a day at co-op as it does now, after a day of endless Zoom conferences? Will we make space for poetry tea times, for chalking the driveway, or for looking up the birds that visit our feeders when these grace notes of added time are encroached upon?
And what about our obligations? A popular meme right now reminds us that we get to choose what things we pick back up when the pace of the world returns to a somewhat more normal rhythm. And while I don’t think that’s wholly true (there are non-negotiables that, like it or not, will demand slots in our days) there is much to consider in that notion. The hard question I think we all need to be asking ourselves right now, before the rush to return to the way things were hits, is this: if you were relieved by the cancellation of an activity, and event, some non-essential you made space for in your life… is it really something that deserves your family’s time and energy? Sometimes, the answer will be yes. But maybe it will be no. The beauty is that you will know for sure, and can walk forward in confidence.
There’s no escaping that the world will emerge from this a changed place, and we will emerge a changed people. Many of those changes are already in motion on a larger scale, and we have very little say in what will be either lost or gained there. But in our own homes, in our own hearts… we can choose. We can shape the habits we’re developing now, in this set apart time, and choose to carry them forward with us into whatever comes next. We can opt today to begin to cultivate a practice in our homes that centers us the things we value most. If you’ve never had time for family worship, start now. If you’ve always wanted to turn the t.v. off in the evenings and play games instead, start now. If you’ve wanted to wanted to teach your kids how to make Nana’s famous spaghetti sauce, start now. If you’ve wanted to implement daily rest times, start now.
New habits are forming all over the world as we speak. You may as well be part of that. Start now.