“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
Paulo Coelho
By Diana Tyler, Co-Owner
At the beginning of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, Phil Connors, a smug, egotistical weatherman, wakes up in a bed and breakfast to the Sunny & Cher song “I Got You Babe” playing on the clock radio. A while later, after being quite rude to the bed and breakfast owner, a homeless man, and a former classmate, he virtually sleepwalks through his news spiel on Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania’s Groundhog Day festivities, then refuses his producer’s wishes to stay a bit longer and film more segments, as he can’t stand being around the small town’s “hicks.”
Much to Phil’s chagrin, a blizzard blankets the town in snow, leaving him and his producer stranded. Resigned to wait for his misfortune to literally blow over, he goes to bed, only to wake up the following morning to find that everything, down to the Groundhog Day announcement on the radio and the snowless ground, is identical to the previous day. He is trapped in a time loop, which, at the end of the movie, he escapes only by becoming a nicer person.
Most of us, if not all, feel as though we’re trapped in a metaphorical Punxsutawney. Being unsure what day it is may be a popular joke right now, but it’s also true! It’s difficult to distinguish Monday from Saturday when the days’ activities, as well as the people we talk to and the places we go, are largely the same. And as I write this, here in San Antonio, even the weather has remained consistently dreary with just fleeting glimpses of sunshine, making the fantastical notion of a time loop seem all the more believable.
So what do we do? Unlike Groundhog Day, there’s no “Return to Normal” switch that can be flicked by adopting a better attitude or performing charitable deeds. We’re in this limbo-like land indefinitely, which, if we’re not careful, can be quite a depressing thought.
As I wrote about in a previous post, we have a choice as to how we approach this Groundhog Day we keep waking up to. We can worry and complain, speculate and theorize. We can numb ourselves with Netflix binges and inordinate amounts of junk food until normalcy returns. Or, we can stop waiting for life to begin again by realizing that this is life, a still-precious gift we would be wise to make the most of.
What’s particularly tough about self-isolating is that there’s not much to anticipate or plan for. Long-term events and goals– whether it’s a trip to Europe, a summer wedding, or our first 5k – are all on hold. And so, many of us are thinking short-term, concerned only with the days, even hours, immediately ahead of us, which makes mindless Instagram scrolling, TV watching, and ice cream consuming seem dangerously appealing. Such activities may deliver momentary pleasure, but I don’t need to tell you that in the long run, they rarely, if ever, provide a lasting sense of joy or fulfillment. We may be called human beings, but we were designed to do.
“In its easy provision of relaxation and escape, television can be beneficial in limited doses. Yet when the habit interferes with the ability to grow, to learn new things, to lead an active life, then it does constitute a kind of dependence and should be taken seriously.”
— Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
It’s time to get past Groundhog Day. It’s time to carpe diem – seize the day – even if we honestly don’t know what day it is. Because when all this is behind us and social distancing is over, we’ll be in a much better place, mentally, emotionally, and physically, if we prioritize productivity, even if doing so may seem foolish and futile.
History is rife with examples of individuals who made the most of their respective limbos. One whom I’ve admired since I was a little girl is Anne Frank who, during the holocaust at thirteen years old, went into hiding with her family in an attic apartment behind her father’s business. Prior to this, her father had given her a red-checked notebook, which she decided to use as a diary. Its first lines read:
“I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”
The residents of the hiding place, also known as the Secret Annex, busied themselves by reading a great deal, studying (their studies included learning English), and taking correspondence courses under their helpers’ names[1]. The residents followed a strict schedule that required them to be silent at certain times each day so the office workers nearby wouldn’t hear them. On Sundays, they spent the day cleaning: scrubbing the carpets, doing laundry, and making the beds. Besides writing in her diary, Anne also composed short stories and a book of her favorite quotes.
Of course, the Internet didn’t exist in the 1940s, so it’s hard to say for sure whether Anne and her family would’ve spent their time passively versus productively, but nevertheless, her example is an inspiring one and certainly worth emulating. Seventy-five years after her death, people around the world are still reading and being positively impacted by her poignant words of truth, hope, and wisdom beyond her years.
All of us are in the same boat, with roughly the same number of hours until we’re “free” to venture out, travel, socialize publicly, and do as we please, albeit with some limitations, I’m sure. However, when the restrictions are at last lifted, some of us will have something of value to show for our time under quarantine, while others will have nothing, save for sub-optimal physical health due to stress, lack of exercise and poor nutrition, and an astonishing number of viewed TV series and movies under our belts.
“How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day.”
― Anne Frank
Psychology shows us that happiness isn’t derived from achieving goals so much as it is from the direction and meaning goals give us, two things all of us could use, especially during Groundhog Day. I urge you not to squander this time, but to use it to develop life-giving habits, such as cooking healthy meals, exercising regularly, meditating, praying, journaling, drawing, learning a new language… The sky’s the limit. We may not end up with a bestselling book or an elite level of fitness, but it won’t matter; the joy is in the journey, the step-by-step progress, and in the adamant refusal to waste another minute.
[1] To see what a typical day looked like for Anne and her family, check out this link: https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/typical-day-secret-annex/