The Great Pause begins ... Week 1 of isolation

Shobana Kataria 23rd March 2020 Diary


On the first week of lockdown, or, as I prefer to call it, The Great Pause, I’m reflecting on what will open up for me as I am about to retreat into my house for the next few weeks.

I have been fortunate enough to have been able to step off the treadmill of life in the last few months. I’ve allowed my life to not be determined by my schedule and my diary.

To spend time exploring who I am, luxuriating in the expansiveness of time that stretches in front of me in the company of myself.

To really meet myself.

What has emerged has been both beautiful and scary.

I have found my creativity; I have discovered how much I enjoy writing. I have found that poetry comes through me and not from me.

I find that when I give to people, I get more than I give. My passion is people and community. That reciprocity is the real currency of life.

My aim is not to get through social isolation, but to thrive, to expand and grow myself.

For many years, my purpose in life has been related to family. Today, I feel that I don’t know what my purpose is, yet I feel that the purpose is staring me in the face, and I can’t see it.

I feel that this time of isolation will be a gift the world has given me to explore some of what I have been grappling with and will help me to move forward. To create a direction and a context for the rest of my life, as I feel that I am at one of those crossroads of life, where there is so much more for me to give.

Let the story unfold ….

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