The Best-Laid Plans Of… (#MondayMusings)

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…  

This sentence has fluttered in my mind every so often since March this year.

Not even the most ardent pessimist could have conjured the year we’ve had.  Back in February, I remember my boyfriend saying, “Something is spreading across the world – a highly contagious virus.  They’re saying it’s coming from China.”  I had just celebrated my birthday and was looking forward to an Iyengar yoga retreat in the mountains with Usha Devi.  Surely the virus wouldn’t come to India, and ofcourse, us yogis would be able to handle a little flu.

When We Lived Contagion

Within two days of the ‘something spreading across the world’ conversation, the Indian government started chartering special flights to bring Indian nationals home.  Overnight, quarantine facilities were put up in major cities.  The pull of the yoga retreat was too strong and I was willing to take the risk of contracting the virus to attend the workshop in Rishikesh.  I had been looking forward to it for months.

As it turned out, I ended up not going for the workshop and the next few months were all about online classes interspersed with cooking and cleaning.  As the months wore on plans got cancelled.  Birthdays, festivals, weddings were cancelled.  Court cases were on hold, exams were delayed, many remained separated from their loved ones.

Delayed Gratification/Denied Gratification

It all got me thinking about the tenuity of our lives.  We postpone plans with friends thinking we can catch up ‘some other time’; wait to tell those we love that we love them until the mood or the time is ‘just right’; plan to start yoga/gym until the kids’ exams finish; wait for time to magically present itself to indulge in our hobbies or passions…we wait and wait and for many of us the wait wears us down until there is no joy in the celebrations, the hobbies and our beloved doesn’t feel that zing anymore.

If this year has taught me anything it is that delayed gratification is sometimes denied gratification.  The time to act is now.  After all the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry…

 

As I wrote this post I was curious to see what my post last year this time was about, and it was such a pleasant walk down memory lane.

This is a post for Corinne’s (from EverydayGyan) prompt titled ‘What 2020 Has Taught Me’.  I also enjoyed Geethica’s post for the same prompt.