The Blank Screen


Have you ever stared at a blank piece of paper or computer screen, and had no idea what to write down?

Have you recently looked at your calendar for the next month or two, and have no idea whether what you put on it will happen?

That is the position that millions of people are in right now.

Today people have been laid off, are in the hospital, are on lock down at home, or in some other way left with tons of unknowns about their future.

We are all in this boat of the unknown.

I find it particularly challenging, because I am somebody who loves to have a busy schedule full of lots of appointments. I drive a lot for my various jobs and enjoy the variety that my schedule affords me.

Being at home for weeks at a time with very few places that I must be leaves me with a schedule that is virtually blank.

I am learning to fill out that schedule with some beautiful routines. These routines are keeping me anchored during this very unknown time.

What I find most interesting is that I had a false belief that I had some control over my schedule and the events I put on there. I am learning like everyone else that I can plan but I can’t control. Planning is important, but I have no say about the outcome. This COVID-19 situation is reminding me of how little control I have over anything outside of myself.

I didn’t have control over outcomes before the virus showed up, and I don’t have control over outcomes now.

I believe that this issue of control is so evident, because it is so obvious. The way that the virus so quickly interrupted our lives highlights how little we individually could have done to prevent it from influencing our life. It is much bigger than we are.

I have strong spiritual beliefs. They keep me grounded. These beliefs help me feel safe when my world gets upended.

I have been upended before. I have been in several terrible situations in my life that I didn’t think I would survive. Somehow, I survived them. Somehow, I became a better person for having gone through them.

There is a blank screen in front of you. There are many unknowns. Nobody knows how the virus is going to change our lives. Nobody knows when it will end. Nobody knows when life will get back to normal.

The truth about all of that is that we never knew that anyway. The future has always been unknown to us. We never know what is around the next corner. We can guess and predict, but we really don’t know.

I would love to hear how you are handling your blank screen that is in front of you now. How are you dealing with this opportunity that is so rich with possibilities? What are you doing right now that will give you hope for your future?

We cannot control outcomes, but we can control our attitudes and how we react to this blank screen that is in front of us.

What will you fill your blank screen with?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Deserve To Be Supported

The pr ocess of writing my book has been so interesting. So many opportunities for me to look at myself and the way that I approach things. One of the most interesting opportunities is the one around the ability to say that I don't understand something. This brings me to what I wanted to  write about here.  That is this false belief that I should be able to know something before I know it. Yes, I read that sentence and say that doesn't even make sense. But, how many of us have taken on a project thinking we should not be able to ask questions about it? It's like the person  (not that I have even done this:) who gets lost driving, but refuses to ask for directions. Truth is our GPS takes care of that most of the time, but there are still times we need to ask.  If the goal of doing a project is to get it done is to get it done, it just makes sense to ask questions. Right? Well, the inability to ask questions usually stems from deeper issues that cannot be just...
Read more

Staying the Course

How many of us can relate to being distracted? How can we not? Every five seconds there is another notification on our smart phones. And, life just being what it is will always be presenting us with another situation to deal with. It's life. It's reality. It seems that it has always been a struggle for me to simply stick with whatever project I embark on. Whenever I start something, it seems that the follow through becomes challenging. Maybe there is some psychological issue I could look at. Maybe I'm just human. Maybe it's just normal. To stay the course in life I believe requires a commitment to the thing we set out to do. It requires saying to ourselves that we will let nothing ultimately stand in our way. And, this commitment has to be so important to us that we will not let the distractions through us off the path. It's about priorities. When we know what is important to us we will find the resources to make it happen. I absolutely believe in the adage th...
Read more

Not Waiting Anymore

Waiting.  Always waiting. Waiting for the right time to change jobs. Waiting for the right time to find a new home. Waiting to lose weight, to have enough in the bank, to look better, etc. There is always a reason not to act. I believe that much of my delaying has been about waiting for that perfect sign from the universe that it was now ok to act on whatever I desired. I believed that the universe would indeed give me a sign that it was now the right time to act. I thought that there would be some great sign to point me in the right direction. Well... The time never comes right? I know I'm not alone in this. Really, it is that feeling of fear that I might act in a way that was not the right thing to do. Don't I have to know how it's all going to work out before I act? Doesn't everything have to make sense before I take a risk? Here are some truths I have stumbled upon in my years of trying to make sense of my reluctance to act: 1. There never is a perfect time t...
Read more