If I had one superpower, it’d be to freeze time.
These are the words I said during a community circle. The question was asked as a prompt, and this was my answer. Chilling to think, months later, I’d get my wish.
Time was frozen…because of a global pandemic.
That’s not what I meant.
We were building capacity with our staff, to be more centered on listening to our students, and community circles are one way to do that. While I lack the experience as a facilitator, I told myself, I have to model what I expect. So I decided to take a chance, and do this with a small group of influential teachers.
At the time I was getting involved in this work, I was also wrestling with aspects of my own life, personally and professionally. At home, my kids were getting older. It seemed like every time I blinked, another year had passed. At work, I was moving farther and farther away from my purpose, and allowing myself to submit to my own “politics of distraction”.
So, if I could do one thing typically beyond my control, it’d be to make time stand still, so I could enjoy the seconds, the minutes, the hours and the days for a few cherished moments in time.
So I said it, that I’d wished I could freeze time.
And people heard it.
And then, the world shut down.
For. A. Year.
Being home, working remotely, and sharing close quarters with members of my family was rarely, if ever easy. However, as someone who had struggled with the idea that so many people live their lives “on the surface”, this situation gave me the chance to delve deeper, to stop being “one of those people”. Remote work, while difficult, provided opportunities for personal one-on-one connections with staff members who I hadn’t connected with in years.
So what’s the lesson here, what’s the biggest life lesson I have ever learned?
Don’t wait for time to freeze so you can catch up.
Go get it.