Be.

Failure is the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. —Henry Ford

It’s been a month of quarantine. Guaranteed you’ve seen this Venn diagram floating in the ether:

On its face, this figure feels existentially true. A call to action.

We’ve been sent to our rooms by this pandemic, locked away from others (or with others) for an eternity. We’re surrounded by uncertainty: when will this be over? Will it be over? Will there be more waves? Am I going to get covid? And what the hell, why am I hungry again?

Enter this graphic, here to save you from yourself. Notice how it nudges you to the right, shaming you out of the “Fear Zone”, nudging you at least into the “Learning Zone”, or even that ethereal “Growth Zone,” where we should—it implies—all live.

Go! It says. Leave the dark circles of fear. Quit getting mad easily. Quit spreading emotions related to fear and anger.

And it’s crap.

A month into isolation, things aren’t normal. And they shouldn’t be. The last time we experienced something like this, antibiotics hadn’t been discovered, surgeons still used silver to close their wounds, and cars were only 20 years old. Which means the last time any of us experienced something like this was…never.