Prepare

​This Covid-19 is a downer.  I would never think otherwise.  Someone commented that not being able to hug was like dieting.  I have never dieted but I understand it is not pleasant.  People are being adversely affected, and the economy is in free fall.  Yet I heard something that sounds incredibly clichey, but it seems true.
It was said, “every problem presents an opportunity.”  It made me think about some of the things that have been happening.  There are really bad things, and if this had never happened it would be better.  But it has happened.  I see parents spending more time with their kids, as a good thing.  Ok it has been over the top and unreasonably demanding, but something is better than nothing in this case.  Unemployed people are applying for degree courses.
That sort of highlights something I have felt important for a long time.  A saying I hold to is “available people prepare.”
To me there has never been a better time to prepare.  There is a lot of isolation.  We are discouraged from mixing with a lot of people. Isolation is not just the lot of some but of most.  There is a time for everything, and it is great to celebrate and let our hair down (that is what I did, and it never came back).  There is also a time for preparing.
I am big on going for what a person has always wanted.  I do not know it is a good idea to decide to be a builder when public speaking is your passion or vice versa.  The way a person is, can often be told through what they do in spare moments.  What they do may be for relaxation, but how they go about it tells a story.
I found out recently that a number of our in-law’s are teachers.  That does not surprise me.  It is our bent.  We enjoy learning and imparting stuff.  I did that with table tennis.  They say that to teach all I need to know is a little more than the pupil.  That was me at table tennis.  I was good for coaching for a while, but it was not long before pupils surpassed me, and a different coach was a better option.
To me everyone has some things that is them.  For a long time, I did not know what was mine.  That is no big deal to me.  What I reckon is a big deal is not finding out.  Drifting.  I don’t know it is anyone’s lot to drift.  Fairdinkum when I went to high school the interviewer asked me what I wanted to be.  I said an astronaut or a teacher.  That made it obvious I really had no idea.  But fortunately, not knowing did not last.
Where I ended up may not have been perfect, but it was good for me.  Things that were me sort of became obvious as I went along.  A guy whose first language was not English asked me to write a letter to the governing body requesting a change of time for their regular soccer fixtures.  I did that, and was totally amazed they did it.  I really think being able to do that sort of thing was me.
I am older now, but I do not think I am to fade off into the sunset.  I still have something to offer.  It may be in a different form to what I have known.  But Covid-19 is a perfect time to prepare.