When we first began sheltering in place, I saw several memes about how this was like the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray’s character, Phil, lives the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over and over again. But in the beginning, it didn’t feel like the same day over and over again to me. There was so much to do, there were so many adjustments to make, and so much to learn. I was focused on the projects that I was going to get done. Yes, it was going to be hard, but I was going to get a lot accomplished.
Now we are in our ninth week. And I have gotten there. I now feel like I am in the movie Groundhog Day. I wake up every morning and do the same thing. I have never been more connected with the first chapter of Ecclesiastes:
2 Perfectly pointless, says the Teacher, perfectly pointless.
Everything is pointless.
Some things are inevitable
3 What do people gain from all the hard work
that they work so hard at under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains as it always has.
5 The sun rises, the sun sets;
it returns panting to the place where it dawns.
6 The wind blows to the south,
goes around to the north;
around and around blows the wind;
the wind returns to its rounds again.
7 All streams flow to the sea,
but the sea is never full;
to the place where the rivers flow,
there they continue to flow.
8 All words are tiring;
no one is able to speak.
The eye isn’t satisfied with seeing,
neither is the ear filled up by hearing.
9 Whatever has happened—that’s what will happen again;
whatever has occurred—that’s what will occur again.
Ecclesiastes can be depressing. “What do you mean there’s no point? What do you mean that everything is meaningless?” But I also find it comforting to know that the things I am feeling are not new. I am not the only one to find myself frustrated by the same ole same ole. And if that’s how you’re feeling, you’re not alone either.
Yes, this time is frustrating. I even allowed myself to utter the word “bored” a few days ago. And it is ok that I feel like that some days.
As they say, “It really do be like that sometimes.”