The Time is Now

Lost, colourless, confused, tired, worn-out... these are the emotions I hear people talking about more and more these days.

Most of us are now paying the price for the rush we made between March and mid-June to get used to the drastic changes being imposed on our lives. We managed to keep things together, to make our families and our relationships work despite the lockdown, but the lack of physical air, as well as the stress and tension to which we were subjected, is bringing the bill. And because life is now more complex than ever before, things are no longer working with the rhythms we were used to months ago. Everything requires more time; you have to plan, making appointments in advance, respecting rules and conditions...

There is a veil of heaviness on our already tired shoulders. Fortunately, at least it's summer and there is a glimpse of a holiday somewhere...

I understand you. I experience the complexity and weight of these moments too and I often find myself thinking that, as always, we have had to lose something to really start enjoying it. But this is the important step that we must see. We have lost a very automatic and seemingly simple way of living that had made us blind to the consequences of our actions.

For years we have been spoiled children, constantly offered new games, new experiences, new opportunities to continue to consume. All easy, all within everyone's reach. We were travelling all the time thanks to the low-cost fares, we had experiences of all kinds thanks to the online packages offered by hundreds of agencies that imagined something for us before we could do it ourselves. We continually bought new products, new clothes, new gadgets, because the price of everything was becoming constantly lower over time. But we never asked questions, excited and elated as children at an amusement park ...

The price for all this is a collapsing planet, out of control pollution, out of control poverty, out of control injustice, out of control greed... We have become spoiled, lacking in profound values ​​for decades, too busy trying everything that life has to offer, without considering that in the socio-economic model we have developed, we only had everything because someone else lost everything.

Our travels have filled the skies, the seas and the streets with pollution, our insatiable desire to use and throw things away has filled the planet with garbage. We have destroyed forests to create plantations, killing animals, ecosystems and tribes, as well as reducing the oxygen required for our very survival. Our stores are full of new goods every month, which has forced thousands of women and children into slavery because in the poorest countries they barter their freedom to sew our jeans and t-shirts.

But now we have come to a stop, this moment has the enormous potential to make us understand how to create powerful and positive change. Before, we moved too fast to see it, but now we can understand it better. We still have the images of the blue spring sky in our eyes, something we hadn’t seen for decades. We still recall the amazement of seeing ducklings and fawns walking safely in the centres of our towns. Let’s not forget all of that. Let's not forget that glimmer of understanding that has appeared on the horizon of our consciousness. We really can support a profound transformation. How? With our choices.

Let's stop regretting what we've lost and stop trying to reproduce it. Let's move a little further. Let's imagine a more balanced world, where benefits are benefits for everyone. Where sustainability becomes our daily mantra, where collaboration instead of competitiveness becomes the new style of industry. Let us make different choices that stop fuelling unconscious consumption and waste production. Let’s rediscover out-of-town bike tours instead of low-cost weekends by plane. Our planet is wonderful everywhere and in the frenzy to travel far we have completely forgotten how to discover what we have always had near.

There are an infinite number of sustainable business ideas that we can focus on to make a real difference. There are a lot of new reflections that we can bring into our companies thanks to what we have learned in recent months, making things change for the better for everyone.

If you feel lost, colourless, confused, tired, worn out, then the time has come to become bolder and begin to imagine the world you really want. Ask yourself: what is the first important thing you can do to make it happen?

Time has never been more perfect. That time is NOW.

(Pic Credits Stephen Leonardi for Unsplash)