The Blip and Learning to Slow Your Inner Flash

28/10/24 06:37

Is it just me, or does it seem as if the society in which we live has hit the fast forward button following the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s as if, we, as a people, have the “catch up” to the point we were “pre-pandemic.” As if we lost something capable of being returned. As if we are incapable of moving forward, but only looking back. It made me revisit some of my previous writing on workaholism in How to Slow Your Inner Flash and found that it all reminds me of “The Blip.”

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos snapped his fingers and half of all living things ceased to exist until the Avengers reversed the effects and brought everyone back five years later. During the five years of “The Blip” the world slowed down as it grieved the loss of its loved ones and found ways to move forward. Following “The Blip” when everyone returned, Earth was a place of chaos as people had to adjust to the return of people from the past and those who were looking toward the future. The Blip caused displacement as those who returned sought to regain their old lives, and wars over the need for natural resources and the desire to return to the past. Everyone involved, whether it was those who were left behind or those who returned, suffered a collective trauma that all attempted to pretend didn’t alter the world, their place in it, and the way in which they viewed it.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, we find ourselves in the same situation as the characters in the fictional reality of the Marvel Universe. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were forced to stop and slow down and wait for the world to hit play again so we could resume our stories. The problem is, when vaccines were developed and people began to reenter society, no one ever addressed the collective trauma suffered by everyone on the planet. Instead, we learned to cope.

For some, we became (or where forced to become) workaholics that was first described by the psychologist Wayne Oates in 1971 as “the compulsion or uncontrollable need to work incessantly.” As a society we became rat racers (individuals who put in the work moving toward a finish line in hopes of achieving happiness), obsessed with the belief of the arrival fallacy that is described by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, author of Happier, as “the false belief shared by the rat racer archetype, that reaching a valued destination can sustain happiness.” These individuals believe that if they work hard enough, they can fix / heal the past or themselves. In essence, we become the Flash, racing forward and never looking back with the belief that the more and faster we move the more quickly all of our problems will be solved. Rather than confront past trauma, survivors prevent their minds from wandering to the events of the past while pursuing feelings of approval and acceptance that have been stripped away.

It's the arrival fallacy that has made it feel as though society is moving a super-sonic speed without a destination in sight besides a false belief that we can “fix” the negative effects of the past to reach “pre-pandemic” levels. So, we create and implement new policies, procedures, and systems that are believed to make us more “efficient” and “faster.” We have been told and believe that this is the only way to heal when it in fact only leads to burnout (the implementation of new policies and procedures, the continuation of toxic or dated policies and procedures, the hiring of a new administration, or life changes that require the need for more personal time rather than work qualifications no longer capable of being achieved). Looking to the past only creates more pain, when it is just the opposite. To heal from the past, we must learn to slow down and heal from the past rather than cope with what has occurred. Workaholism provides us with a distraction from the fear that permeates every aspect of a survivor’s life following a traumatic event and following the pandemic, we are all suffering a collective trauma. This also may be why we work endlessly in an attempt to prove we deserve to be happy rather than accept and progress past the fear we have of the world in which we live and our interactions with others throughout society.

What is Hope?

28/10/24 06:33

What is hope? This is a question I have continued to return to over the past year as I’ve been working on my new project How to Forgive Your Inner Daredevil in my upcoming Hope and Self-Esteem Saga. This series of guides will include using the Incredible Hulk to address feelings of anger, Spider-Man in an attempt to achieve balance, and possibly others heroes / villains. Rather than sexual assault, this saga will address the silent pandemic occurring throughout our society that has led to the opioid crisis and growing depression and isolation infecting so many others beside myself: the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Yes, according to C.R. Snyder, hope is WAYPOWER and WILLPOWER, but how do you instill hope in yourself and others? As my hope has waxed and waned over the past few months, I’ve leaned on some really close friends and my wife for support. It’s the only way I’ve been able to dig myself out of the emotional hole I’ve been in. I have no definite answer to this question of hope vs optimism, but it’s one I am searching to find for myself, my students, my mentees, and other survivors of adverse childhood experiences like myself. So, I’ve been reading the psychology and comics to do the research. I’ve been writing down my thoughts and ideas to help myself and share with others. And I’ve been resting to let the thoughts come naturally and remain mindful of myself and others. Rather than tell you what I have learned so far and tell you to try something to give yourself the motivation to move, engage, and rebuild your lost imagination, I want to tell you to sit with it for a while. Don’t push it away. Practice some radical self-acceptance and get to its root. It may be trying to tell you something that can lead to your healing.

Lost Imaginations

Read. Write. Rest.

The Blip and Learning to Slow Your Inner Flash

What is Hope?

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