A lot of people are realizing for the first time in their lives that they have no control over their lives. They are addicted to the illusion of certainty and the belief that they are in control. The rapid changes in the world over the last month is like going cold turkey. It’s scary stuff.

It’s taken a global pandemic to wake people up to the reality that everyone is making it up as they go. Politicians, journalists, doctors are all figuring it out on the fly like the rest of us. It’s like aliens just landed on earth, and we were all told to shelter in place while someone like Trump negotiates with the visitors from Mars.

This wake-up call is similar to the shock we get when someone close to us dies unexpectedly, or we get a life-changing medical diagnosis. The fragility of life comes at you fast.

Cold Turkey is hard. People freak out. That’s why we are seeing people protesting around the country and saying that we need to open back up for business. They have posters and signs that read, “I need a haircut,” “Give me back from freedom.” What they really mean is, “Make it go back to normal!”. They won’t surrender to the reality of uncertainty. They want to remain in the illusion of control, so they look for scapegoats and blindly forge ahead.

I hope they wake up and embrace the unknown.

Photo by pawel szvmanski on Unsplash