We’re all characters in our non-fiction stories. We don’t get many ‘happily ever after’ endings, or clear story arcs, but we do get stories that challenge and change us.
This prolonged pandemic is the big event that works its way into all our lives and changes our stories. One friend tells everyone that she’s had to reinvent herself. She’s doing a stellar job of moving from one, solid, predictable schedule working at a high-end hotel bar to unpredictable work as an extra on movie & tv shoots, plus erratic shifts mixing drinks at the bar of a restaurant. She went from knowing week-to-week and month-to-month where she’d work, while adding to her retirement fund, and counting on the benefits of a union job, to freewheeling and improvising every day. Other friends are experiencing serious financial deprivations, are basically homebound due to underlying medical conditions, or are simply overwhelmed with this overall backdrop of worry.
What about my story? The combination of crazy real estate/renovations adventure AND the challenge of the pandemic is my story. And it has changed me. I’m becoming less reactive, less likely to beat myself up for silly mistakes, more likely to ask for help (sooner rather than later), and I’m learning how to deal with money in a less emotional fashion. It’s not a dramatic story but it’s changing me.
A good storyline—whether it’s a short story or a novel—has an arc of events that change and challenge the protagonist and other characters. This pandemic is a monumental story challenging us all. It’s exposed inequities in housing & financial insecurity, endemic racism, food desert communities, and how information is siloed to a point where it is possible to live in factual vacuums. This is how conspiracy theories grow. This is how stories about the lizard people and fantasies out of movies become the source for real life fears.
There’s a deep and frightening lack of critical thinking, with many people getting all their pandemic & medical information from suspect sources. “I heard about this.” “My friends are talking about that.” “It was on Facebook.” “A guy on a news show said…” There’s a confusion between belief and fact, coupled with a serious lack of trust in science, scientists, and people who, truthfully, admit to NOT knowing everything.
This is a scary, science-fiction story arc and we’re all characters wading away in the muck trying to make the best of it. What’s the next chapter in this story? I’m not sure. Ideas?
Life has changed for us too, but nowhere near as much as for others. The Offspring and I have been netizens for a long time, and the fact that we live on the urban fringe means we’re not stuck in tiny apartments. I guess that’s why I didn’t really notice the obvious until you pointed it out. The pandemic has changed our story arcs. The only question is ‘how much?’
The only significant change I’ve noticed in myself is that I’m angry, not quite all the time, but for much of the time. I abhor the conspiracy theories, the selfishness, the entitlement, the stupidity… Most of all though, I abhor the hypocrisy of those who greedily guzzle up every new piece of tech while at the same time maligning the science that gives rise to that tech.
Oh and politician…I hate them too.
Sorry, this is perhaps not quite the change you meant. 🙁
It’s not my favorite incarnation of change, but it has a role. I think that anger at people denying science and greedy businesses and delusional politicians is a fuel for change. It can even be a fuel ofr positive change!