I used to believe that the most important things in life began with c: communication, creativity, comedy, contemplation, curiosity, culture, collaboration, community, connection, compassion, contentment, conflict, challenge, confidence, courage, consciousness and care. A life that embodies all of these would surely be rich, purposeful and satisfied.
But to embody these all of the time you’d have to be a superhero. So I asked myself, if I could choose just one, which would it be?
I would choose care. Because care leads to everything else. And if we take care of ourselves, the world around us, the things we do and of each other, the rest of those things will take care of themselves. If we take care of ourselves, we understand what our needs are; perhaps to communicate, to create, to laugh. Taking care of the world around us allows us to contemplate our existence, incites curiosity to explore people and culture. Through taking care with the things we do we discover the power of collaborating, community and connection. Taking care of others teaches us compassion and if we keep it up, contentment. Conflict arises when our cares become passions and clash, challenging us to consider other perspectives, to have confidence and courage to rise to them and to be more conscious, meaning we learn and grow.
The virus initially seemed to be the great leveller; uniting us by the frailty of our biology, regardless of status, gender, race or age. It has since divided us by magnifying many differences and issues within society. There is however one way that it has united us. It’s forced us to pause, and reflect on our own mortality. We’ve all asked ourselves questions about the lives we live, how we spend our time and who with. We’ve re-evaluated our values and priorities. Our common ground is that we are different, but we all care about something. And when love and life is complex and hard, care is enough.