Easy from now on
“Ahhh! So relaxing. Wait…now I’m all wet.” (Image credit)
The Bahá’í period of fasting takes place in early March and ends with the Vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Adults abstain from food and drink during daylight hours. It is a time of reflection, renewal, and hungry afternoons. Some days are euphoric, and some are really tough — sometimes at the same time.
On those harder days, I find myself reflecting on how I took lunch for granted. I always think that when the Fast is over, life will be so easy. I’ll just be able to have a snack whenever I need one! I’ll be able to concentrate easily all day, and I won’t have to plan my mornings around eating before dawn.
But inevitably, when the Fast is over, right from Naw-Rúz I find new ways to complicate things. Now I have to come up with something to have for lunch? Eating is hard! If it’s not that, it’s something else. I find a new set of challenges, and the simple life I’m hoping for never materializes.
As I fantasize about normalcy in the midst of the pandemic, I’ve been reflecting on this lesson from the Fast. As a matter of fact, the pandemic hit the United States during the Fast, and in some ways it feels like that period of restraint and restriction has not yet ended. Life still has the intensity of the those days.
Even though I might long for a moment when bells are ringing and people gather in the streets and cheer like it’s V-E Day, I suspect that our recovery from the coronavirus is going to be a much more gradual affair. And even though it seems like life will be so much easier, my “new normal” post-pandemic will probably be about the same level of difficulty as that which I currently experience. I’m sure I’ll find new problems and stressors to keep me occupied. Once we can go to weddings and parties and meetings again, there will be weddings and parties and meetings I don’t feel like going to. Absent the complexity of mask-wearing, social distancing, and reworking all of my business systems and personal interactions to avoid spreading a deadly disease, life will be complicated in a different way.
That said, I’m getting better at spotting the ways in which I add needless complications to my life. My daily routine during the pandemic has actually been very simple: No commute, fewer meetings, fewer social obligations. If I stay up too late or eat too much sugar or miss a deadline, it’s on me. Therefore, if I want things to go smoothly, I lay the groundwork that will make that happen: I can go to bed earlier, have the difficult conversation before things get weird, and take in the laundry before it rains.
There is no promise that things will ever be easy. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we can never predict the future, blah blah blah. And I wouldn’t necessarily want my life to be free of challenges, either — no challenges, no growth. But I’m learning, through minor sacrifices like the Fast and major hardships like a global pandemic, that my circumstances have a lot less influence over my experience than my choices. Maybe I can never avoid the struggle, but I don’t have to suffer. I can enjoy ease while it lasts, but I don’t need to cling to it. When things are tough, I can still find joy and fulfillment.
