A time for reflection

I have felt stuck lately. I have always found that February is the most unproductive and depressing month. (August comes in second.) That’s why they made it the shortest month of the year. Last year it was nice because I was 9 months pregnant and I had no choice but to hibernate. But I think February should be set aside for hibernation every year. We should not try to get things done when the weather and the news and life in general are all conspiring to get us to go back to bed.

One can’t help but be depressed by the constant doom and gloom being trumpeted on the news right now. I can’t decide whether the nonstop talk about the economic woes is contributing to the problem or not. But I do see an opportunity here, and others have written about it too (see The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph).

If you are forced to stop or slow down due to losing a job or business slowing down or just trying not to spend money, that is an opportunity for reflection that should be seized. It is a time to re-evaluate how we are spending our lives. No one can deny that the culture in America has been centered around spending, consuming and working long hours to make money to spend and consume. Perhaps chasing money and material things for happiness have helped us get into the situation. And I think it has largely been a futile chase.

Now we have the opportunity to decide if this is the life we choose to lead. This time too will pass. And when it does, will we return to our old ways and repeat the cycle all over again? Or will we realize that happiness may come from scaling back on work and spending in order to spend our time on more meaningful activities, such as being with our families, pursuing creative endeavors, getting in touch with our spiritual sides or learning something new?

I feel apprehensive about the time we are in, not because I am worried about the economic situation per se, but because I am afraid that we will let another opportunity for meaningful change pass us by. The last time I felt like this was immediately after September 11, when I believed that we were faced with an opportunity to come together as a society and make some important changes in how we lived. But we let that opportunity pass and now, nearly 8 years later, we are unquestionably worse off as a society. Will we let another opportunity go by? We can’t wait for someone else to do something. It is up to each of as individuals to take this moment to reflect, set priorities and take control of our own lives.