I have a plan.

Well, to be really honest, I HAD a plan...and then the global virus crashed onto scene.

So I, along with the rest of the world, have ditched “the plan” for something else.

I can’t really say it’s a new plan in its own right.  It seems to morph every day into a new shape and focus.

So I suppose what I’m actually saying is that I don’t really have any plan just now.

I have tried to prioritise.  I have tried making lists.  I have tried looking ahead – how difficult is that!  But right now, for me, nothing is working.

Someone was saying to me a few days ago that we will all be able to relax again when “things get back to normal”.

But what is normal?

I simply do not think our individual and collective experiences over the last weeks and months will allow us to go back to exactly what we knew before.

That’s a huge physical, practical, emotional, spiritual and existential challenge to each and every one of us, for ourselves and for our friends, family, neighbours, colleagues and clients.

So what will your plan be?

We may all be at different stages along this road, and we will all respond differently as we emerge through to the other side.

For me, a plan really has to have a beginning, middle and end.  And right now there are times when I don’t even know what stage of that process I am in.

And that’s OK.  We need to sit with what is.  Before we can really fully engage with what will be.

I am reminded each day of some words in a poem (For the Interim Time) by John O’Donohue in Benedictus: A Book of Blessings:

“The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you.”

It’s a time of huge change.  So be gentle with others.  Be gentle with yourself.  Be gentle with family, friend and neighbours.  Be gentle with your clients.

Having a plan is all very well.  Sitting with the unknown is quite another matter.

It takes time.  It all takes time.  Stay with it, whatever shape your plan.