A Great Place for All: Change (21.11)
2021 Mar 5 (21.11 Change)
Welcome to column 21.11, and thanks again for reading, subscribing, and sharing.
I appreciate your patience with these longer essays. Our world is complex, changing and we are changing with it.
Each post is a snapshot of ideas, beliefs, questions, and hopes. The column is part of my quest for a unified world and country that can become a better (make that .. Great) place for all.
As we get comfortable doing new things, we get confident and want to learn and enjoy new things - play new games, learn new skills, read and watch entertainment, use our hands for new hobbies, and travel. Lockdown has enabled us to see things differently and re-explore childhood or previous loves. But we are missing the opportunity to grow, achieve, and expand in the way we had been accustomed.
Recent surveys have shown people working at home are often more productive but burned out. In most cases, they have been better able to focus despite the children and significant others because going out (restaurant or bar with family or friends, travel, head out to movies, or shop) has been less of an option (except if you are Ted Cruz).
Another outgrowth of the pandemic is the Ostrich effect being more pronounced. Undesirable activities are easily bypassed such as paying bills, taxes, checking those diminishing investments, or catching up with people where you had more patience and now you don’t. I have definitely had less patience for TV or movies with more questionable plots or inane conversations, and I have begun to see different ways that I am impacted by, and impact others.
It is good to be patient with yourself, do the things you enjoy or want to try and enjoy your efforts. Our environment has changed and it is time for each of us to navigate toward that new world - whatever it will look like! Try to pause though, acknowledge, reach out, and help those in your life. These are good times to learn, adapt, heal, and grow in a fresh way.
Talking with a colleague, I mentioned that people don't read documentation like we used to. Today people just pattern behaviors from past efforts, and with that our layers of new technology build on each other, but sometimes, things get missed!
Each layer can have its own mechanical, privacy, security, and maintenance issues. These layers create permutations, data, and alternatives that are skyrocketing. Everything that was once simple and explainable is increasingly more complex and the change process harder to understand (or replicate). Technology has many layers to make it work and be understandable and usable .. and it requires specific knowledge to make it joyous for us. I used to understand detailed aspects of the chemistry and the integration of systems, networks and data - it is amazing how much I have forgotten, and how I fight against being an ostrich. I find that fight is not over process, as much as it is over knowledge and my ability to leverage relationships. Asking for or getting help over the phone or over zoom can be daunting.
My grandmother came to this country before radio was available, she saw radio being adopted, cars surpass 10 horsepower, tv introduced, and loved her son as he befriended astronauts that went to the moon. People who have come from Asia and Africa have seen even a greater rate of change as their evolution from tv to smartphone has a shorter lifecycle while also learning English. The increased speed leads to misunderstandings, people and tech going off-course, and in continually different directions. It is increasingly easy to feel rejected, and without intending to, reject others who are not yet ready to end a conversation - it is scary how so much of the communities of the past is gone. I just read that 98% of conversations don’t really end when both parties are ready to end it, so it might be good to check what body language and tone you are noticing.
I think speed and timing impacts our political discourse as there are many disjointed and related/ unrelated topics that confuse leaders and divert the thoughts of our populace. It also can make us feel like burying our heads (like an ostrich) and wait for the virus to dissipate; and yet the more we ignore the world, the more it will be harder to get back on track, and recover our paths and relationships. None of us can be ostriches for long especially when we include the changing political climate in our home countries - today Hong Kong and Malaysia are erupting whereas America a few months ago, India increasingly, the middle-east for many years, China wants to coerce its neighbors, and every South America, African and European country to various degrees continuously are at the mercy of populist leaders.
There is a gigantic list that each of us has to manage. If homes, kids, or elderly parents are involved, and especially if any of them (kids or relatives) are in foreign lands, it can be very complex and time-consuming to take care of any issue, and results leave us having to change (in good or not-so-good ways).
In our world of managing all we need to with finances, insurance, children, health, work details, on-line access, smartphones, service providers, fine print, medical issues, shopping, matching our needs optimally (price/ fit), food (organic or not), vacations, safety, and our health …. well … it can get overwhelming.. especially now with covid. The other day I had gotten into my car, and I had to recall all the steps to change some setting on my console - it took 8 minutes or so to rebalance my car speakers.
So, be patient with yourself and others as we (they) continue to absorb and integrate this new growing behemoth (called complexity) into our lives. Tell the ones you love that you do love them, are concerned for them, and can assist them, as taking messages and events for granted in this changing world filled with heightened emotions, is dangerous. More than ever I am realizing I have not done that enough.
Until next time!
Joyously,
Richard at richardferdman@substack.com
Books and Podcasts inspiring this or referenced within include: Ostrich effect, American Revolution, Deviate, Blindspots, Reader come home, 98% of conversations
If you go to https://richardferdman.substack.com/ you will see the latest version of the columns (including any new post-publishing edits/ corrections). You can choose to become a friend of mine on Goodreads at this link.
All content above is © Richard Ferdman 2021
Please tell your friends!