Having taken a break from the blog for a few weeks, it feels like I have come back to an altered world. Boris Johnson is gone. Roe vs. Wade has been overturned. The former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was killed in a rare shooting in Japan.
In other respects, there has been more of the same, only worse. Inflation and interest rates are rising. Global markets continue to fall. Russia has doubled down on its war efforts in Ukraine. More people perished because of mass gun violence in the USA and SA. There is more darkness in South Africa. Global warming caused yet another disaster – this time 13 people died in an accident caused by a melting glacier in Italy. And another mutation of the COVID virus has emerged.
Just about the only thing that remains unchanged is that the Queen is still the UK monarch.
Perhaps you feel that the world is unfamiliar, this post-pandemic, angry, unstable world. You’re not alone and you’re not wrong.
We are experiencing tectonic shifts. Shifts in political, economic and social contracts that have been in place for decades. We thought that human rights, capitalism, democracy, free trade and global co-operation would always advance. We extrapolated growth and development into a better future for our children.
Now we feel less sure about what to expect. We don’t know what our place will be in this new world. A feeling of discomfort eats away our confidence and peace.
What are we to do about this?
We can start by acknowledging that we are experiencing global shifts not seen in a long time, perhaps not since the end of the Cold War or even the Second World War. We may even face bigger changes. We don’t know.
We can also admit that these changes are unsettling, a significant drive behind what’s wrong with everyone. Most people are currently not at their best, because what’s happening in the physical realm is disturbing our inner equilibrium.
We must also recognise that we do not have control over these exogenous forces pummelling our inner world. But we can control how we react and how we protect our sanity.
We will need mental and emotional resources to steer through these unsettling times and we must protect and manage those.
What do you need to do to take care of your inner resources to face the challenges ahead?
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Kind regards,
Sunél