26 May 2020

A week or so ago, I read a quote from a football coach that he’d been telling his team while they were in isolation, and it stuck with me.

“Control what you can control”.

To the footy players, it was obviously as message to do the best you can, training the way you are at the moment. Don’t think too far beyond today. All the usual footy language, designed to keep them from over thinking what may or may not happen, and maybe stressing about what they would do if this happens, or that happens.

Stay the course. Do what you need to do. And one favourite that footy commentators seem to use a LOT, “lower your eyes”. In a footy game (I assume) it means looking closer to you, rather than focussing on stuff in the distance. It could mean look for something good close up, or could just as likely mean that something bad could happen to you if you don’t pay attention to things (ie the opposition) nearby!

Control what you can control. We should all get it tattooed on our forearms as a reminder. But with tattoo parlours all shut, I’ll accept writing it in pen or marker 🙂

I bought tickets yesterday to a comedy show that is happening this weekend. By Zoom! Artists everywhere are, like many other industries, suffering because they just can’t do what they normally do to earn an income, but this wonderful Aussie comedic duo are having a Zoom concert.

Control what you can control. Stay the course.

A friend who is a cinema movie watching fanatic (in the nicest possible way), spent time in social distancing sorting out her video collection. She alphabetised (in categories, for she isn’t a savage) her collection of DVD’s. All 198 of them.

Control what you can control. Stay the course.

Our governments and health officials world wide are making decisions that affect us. We may not like them and we may think that it’s time to change them, but the reality is that… this pandemic fight is our course. We need to stay on course. Sometimes the course opens up a little (hello, lunch in a cafe!), and sometimes it constricts. And sometimes the path is bumpy.

We don’t need to see the full course. We need to see the next step in front of us, and make sure we don’t trip.

I’m off to alphabetise my bookcases. Anyone got a spare three months to help?