Our world has changed this month. Perhaps forever. The way we live has slowed and, in some cases, stopped.
Amidst all the impact that this has had, the area I notice it most is in connection.
It’s not until something like this happens that we realise how connected we were.
Seeing the same faces on the daily commute, saying hi to colleagues on our journey to the office, at our desks, the kitchen chat. Having friendly conversations with neighbours, with check-out staff. Meeting friends for lunch or coffee. Popping into parents for dinner or a visit.
And, suddenly, something’s cut…except, it’s not really…
Like an old phone line, old lines of connection are coming alive again where other modes of communication fail.
We’re finding ways to channel our social conversations down phone lines. Hold meetings through video chats, text or Skype family, share a virtual drink with friends.
We are connected, literally, through the wires of our machines, of our lives. Truly, and perhaps even more than ever.
Between us, networks are coming alive in a different way, perhaps even in a closer way. And connections we forgot were there - buried by everyday life -have also come alive. Old school friends, former colleagues, all the people we used to know and are being brought back into contact with through this shared experience and challenge. Even through traditional letters and cards.
We forgot the connections were there. And yet, they always were. I wonder what else we may have forgotten was there, that we’ll realise in the weeks to come.
It’s an unprecedented time for everyone, but perhaps it’s in some ways affirming. We’ve got back to something, or perhaps reminded ourselves of something deeper.
We truly are interconnected.
