The Great Pause

My home state is NY. My Governor is Andrew Cuomo and for the first time in my life, I have received compliments from my friends and family for our Governor. And, I have to say, I have to agree and would like to say a big THANK YOU to Governor Cuomo, but not for the reason you may think. Yes, I do think he is doing a great job of calling out this irresponsible president of ours. Yes, he is fighting the fight for our healthcare workers and our own personal health. The thing I want to thank him for is coming up with the perfect word to describe what we are all doing right now. The word is pause.

I can’t stop thinking about what this word means to us right now—of all of the things we are being asked to pause: traditional learning, team sports, social gatherings, travel, etc.

So what does this all mean? Well, I think it’s well overdue that we take this pause. Maybe we are putting too much pressure on ourselves, on our spouses, and particularly on our children. What are those honors classes for, if our child can’t take the regents? How many sports or teams are they enrolled in for the spring? How many teams was I going to coach? Which brings up new questions. What are the real reasons we are disappointed that we can’t participate in these activities? What will we miss most? Can this pause force us to look at all of these activities and programs from a different angle?

What do I mean? Can we allow our children to deeply study a subject they are interested in rather than memorize facts to pass an exam that may or may not help get them into college? Perhaps guided by an interest that can accidentally trigger a deep understanding of math or science. Can we look at youth sports as a way for kids to connect with friends, to encourage younger or less skilled kids on their teams or learn from positive role models, rather than be the best player that may or may not attract the college scout?

And, finally, I have decided to voluntarily pause. While I still believe that running outside is the single greatest thing I can do for myself and my physical and mental well-being, I have decided to cut back on my training. My original plan was to plow forward and continue training for my early June marathon regardless of it getting canceled. This past Saturday I ran a half marathon as part of that training. While it felt good, I felt just a bit more taxed than I think I should right now. Interestingly, just after I got back from my run, this article came across my FB feed. In a nutshell, it explains that running a marathon or ultramarathon can reduce your immunity to the equivalent of someone in their 70’s. Maybe not the best choice given there is a pandemic attack those with lowered immunity. I will keep running, though, because like I said my mental health depends on it. I am just going to scale it way back. And, that is OK.

And, now, when I ask myself what do I miss the most from my training? Most of all, it’s my friends, it’s my clients and most of all it’s human connection. I truly hope that when this is all over, and I know in my heart it will be, that we can cherish that human connection, again. This is how we will survive.