You can feel the anticipation in the summer air. Changing the clocks for daylight saving literally and figuratively turned a switch. You can see the excitement even in the nameless, faceless, masked people who are slowly emerging like bears after winter or like Rip van Winkle after his 20 year nap.
Whatever your race, 70, 80, or even booster, the finish line is now in sight.
Remember when we used to say ‘stop the world, I want to get off?’ Well, it listened for a while, but now our world is revving up again.
I was given a birthday present this year by my family which I took up belatedly between two lockdown periods. I spent three days alone, being nourished and nurtured, pampered and revived. Against a backdrop of natural beauty, I was still enough to hear my own thoughts and move to the beat of only my heart.
During a healing massage, after introducing herself, my therapist worked on my body in silence. When she finished with my right arm she let it go but still it remained exactly where she had left it. My arm was raised, as if in ballet’s first position, almost as if I was reaching upwards, holding onto something. My biggest birthday gift was the lesson she taught me when all she said was ‘you can let go now’.
Living in the time of Covid has shown us all, both mice and men, that even the best laid plans go awry. It has made living in the past painful and planning for the future almost impossible. Letting go of what was or may or may not be, has forced us to just be. And just being when the world slows down can be peaceful, despite being stuck where you are. No more chasing timeslots, people or even cars in the traffic. It feels liberating to dress down instead of up, casting off, when you don’t have to be put together. As a ‘human be-ing’ you somehow feel more authentic and more in touch with who you are.
Letting go has also meant relinquishing control.
11 October 2021 is ‘Freedom Day’. One race is almost won. As the rat race begins and diaries fill and we look to the future again, I will try to remember and internalise the lesson that this time in history (and a masseuse) has taught me. It is the letting go that ultimately gives us our freedom.
In My Head 