We forget that the outside world exists. In our carefully constructed castles with each need accounted for and each room designed so that we may not have to venture far to fulfill another need, we forget about sunlight. The need to be instructed by something greater than us.

If covid has taught me anything it’s that we- as a species- are less adaptable than we think. Our bodies, which are designed to be moved and sustain hard labour, are being relegated to some kind of power and thought experiment. Humanity, which has evolved and survived for generations, is now being treated with a fragility that only face coverings and hand sprays can cure. The more we control our environment, the more we control, it seems.

In my experience, life happens outside. In our interaction with nature. In the comings and goings of the earth. Learning to work with flow and learn from the pace of seasons. Unhurried. Knowing one’s place. Growing (even when it’s not visible). Scared (because the world is vast) but also gentle.

Is it supposed to be hard? Is a question I often find myself thinking. 

As a believer in a God, and hence a believer that there is some kind of design to life, a system or multiple systems that can guide us as humans, I marvel at the way in which we are taught about life. To strive. To fight. To work every day. To achieve.

To what end? I ask myself all of the time. What end does this endless striving to do serve? To leave a mark on the world? To “be” something?(when in the grand scheme of things we are just 10 seconds in a planet’s life which is one of billions of galaxies in our known universe). 

What I have seen of life, in nature, in illness, in work that produces tangible results (read life-changing, nourishing, comforting), is not… hard. It takes diligence. It takes inspiration. There are hard times, for sure (droughts, famines, death of loved ones….), but it is not (mostly) a fight. Or so I would like to believe.

And yet, even as I sit here and write this, I find myself falling victim to my own carefully constructed time chart. The needs of the body combined with the needs of the mind. To go for a run or to keep exploring.

The mind is what you condition it to be.

So is your body.

Pick your conditioner wisely.

Faithfully yours,

Girl With One Earring