avatarDesiree Driesenaar

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Abstract

"c1fc">The artist Yuri Veerman was quoted: “We didn’t only want to show the CEO of KLM, but also those of Shell and Booking.com. But we couldn’t. The pedestals would become too high.”</p><p id="26a4">A good crisis will lay bare the system faults of our societies. Will create awareness. And gives us an opportunity to correct them. This is what’s happening now on a big scale.</p><p id="d36c">However, on a smaller scale, the personal scale, it feels completely different.</p><p id="6718">It sucks!</p><h2 id="1338">Loss on a Personal Level</h2><p id="b65e">We are losing so many things and we don’t even know what we’ll be losing exactly yet.</p><ul><li>Are we losing our comfortable lifestyle?</li><li>Are we losing our freedom to do as we please when we want to?</li><li>Are we losing our ability to travel the world, hopping on planes whenever we fancy a change of scenery?</li><li>Are we losing our privacy because of corona-apps?</li><li>Are we losing our job? Our house? Our pension-plan?</li></ul><p id="c93d">And what about people in much poorer countries?</p><ul><li>Are we dying of hunger because the shops are empty and the land is dry?</li><li>Are we facing war?</li><li>How do we deal with corona on top of diarrhea, measles, malaria, and ebola?</li></ul><h2 id="d041">Change is Not Rational</h2><p id="b7d7">A gap will open up in many families where people are for the lockdown or against it. Where generational conflicts are fought out. Where cases of domestic violence have risen sharply worldwide.</p><div id="9571" class="link-block"> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html"> <div> <div> <h2>A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide</h2> <div><h3>Movement restrictions aimed to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be making violence in homes more frequent, more…</h3></div> <div><p>www.nytimes.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*PH571dFUMJuGXLKF)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="0bec">Where we hear shouting voices:</p><p id="7286">“How are we supposed to pay the rent?”</p><p id="c6ef">“Why is that important when my sister is fighting for her life on intensive care?”</p><p id="88ec">“You young ones are putting lives at risk with your corona parties.”</p><p id="0f25">“Well, you oldies have created a sh*tty world. Climate change and all. And now we have to give up our fun for your health? I don’t think so!”</p><p id="3f10">We hoard toilet paper because our unconscious tells us we’re in danger.</p><p id="4be4">Change does that. It’s not rational. It ignites fear in our little <a href="https://www.livescience.com/amygdala.html">amygdala brain</a>. And depression and an overall sense of despair.</p><h2 id="238b">The 5 Stages of Mourning</h2><p id="6ef0">And before we can move on, we need to address these emotions. We need to mourn our loss. We need to go through all the stages. There’s no getting around it. Some people will do so quicker than others.</p><p id="2678">Let’s take time to mourn!</p><p id="50c0">This is a cry from my heart to yours. Cry salty tears. Feel the despair in your body and soul. Before you let it go and go on to merrier times.</p><p id="6d7e"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_K%C3%BCbler-Ross">Elisabeth Kubler Ross</a> was a Swiss-American psychiatrist who wrote many books about grief. About loss. And about dying.</p><p id="2b5a">She created a model for grief, consisting of 5 stages. Denial, anger, depression, and bargaining before finally, acceptance will give us a bit more peace of mind.</p><div id="f860" class="link-block"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model"> <div> <div> <h2>Kübler-Ross model</h2> <div><h3>The Kübler-Ross model, or the five stages of grief, postulates a series of emotions experienced by terminally ill…</h3></div> <div><p>en.wikipedia.org</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*O33ZmFDHzzaUvibZ)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="49de">She never meant it as a linear process, though. Loss is personal, grief is personal. So some people will skip stages when others will go back to earlier stages. It’s like a spiral.</p><p id="d0f2">And every way that works for you is okay.</p><h2 id="28a3">Chaos Is Normal</h2><p id="1635">Maybe it also helps to know that chaos is normal. And out of chaos, a new order will arise. In nature, it’s a well-known phenomenon that’s described in the Chaos-theory below.</p><div id="63c8" class="link-block"> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory"> <div> <div> <h2>Chaos theory</h2> <div><h3>Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics focusing on the study of chaos-states of dynamical systems whose…</h3></div> <div><p>en.wikipedia.org</p></div>

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    </div><h2 id="d3ee">Abundant Future</h2><p id="27e5">Maybe it also helps to keep our eyes focused on the horizon as soon as we’ve shed the tears.</p><p id="4692">A vision for a new tomorrow. A better one than today.</p><p id="f686">What will it look like? Can we co-create it together? How can I contribute?</p><p id="d135">I really want to believe that we are capable of creating <b>a future that aligns the economy, ecology, and the human spirit</b>.</p><p id="99f9">That we can find a way of being part of the natural ecosystems and thrive as humans on a healthy planet.</p><p id="1be9">Together with other humans, in peace. Together with other species, sharing. Unleashing the abundance of nature so no one needs to be hungry.</p><p id="dc3e">I think it's vital to co-create this world. And the current crisis proves it.</p><p id="eea1"><b>Viruses will not go away.</b> And if we don’t restore ecosystems and preserve biodiversity, new viruses will jump from animals to humans again and again.</p><p id="bf28">It’s so logical. Ecologists have warned us for decades already. Viruses have unique animal hosts. We are destroying the habitats of these animals, so the viruses need new hosts.</p><p id="c1d6">So viruses invade us instead of the species that are going extinct.</p><p id="4de6">It’s nature. It’s what viruses do. They invade…</p><p id="5349">And we, humans, have to <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-world-with-virus-is-normal-now-lets-deal-with-it-9e93e35588ae">live with what we unleashed</a>…</p><p id="5573">And be honest. We’re all trying very hard to keep our economy running. But the economic system is just not resilient at all. Many people are falling by the wayside. We can do better. Really, we can do better.</p><p id="0d69">We just need to want it badly enough. All of us.</p><h2 id="67ed">Restoring Ecosystems Is Key</h2><p id="438b">My motto still stands:</p><p id="c4e1" type="7">“Let’s restore ecosystems and learn as humans how to live within the boundaries of our planet.”</p><p id="dbfc">It’s possible. It’s happening. And I write about it.</p><p id="48e0">So if you want to be part of the transition, <a href="https://readmedium.com/im-not-fighting-to-save-our-miracle-planet-are-you-9b5945089564">take up your own role</a>. Now’s the time. <a href="https://readmedium.com/why-building-bridges-is-just-as-important-as-fighting-c1a583bbc5c2">Be a player</a>. And help us tip the scales.</p><p id="af13">And if you want to connect, you can find me on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireedriesenaar/">LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/desiree.driesenaar/">Facebook</a>. Or somewhere crying my eyes out. And laughing out loud. Feet firmly on the soil. Connecting to Gaia while mourning…</p><h2 id="48d7">Further reading</h2><p id="f677"><i>About the author</i></p><div id="6163" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/nature-me-and-others-fddd71910718">
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            <h2>Nature, Me, and Others</h2>
            <div><h3>Here’s my story, especially for Illumination readers, editors, and writers and the rest of my audience…</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
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      </a>
    </div><p id="1048"><i>How our economic system is ruining our world, our planet, our home</i></p><div id="0f35" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/money-money-money-aint-it-funny-it-s-a-rich-man-s-world-359bf2435d69">
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            <h2>Money, Money, Money. Ain’t It Funny? It’s a Rich Man’s World</h2>
            <div><h3>Abba’s song is relevant for our times. Businesses are kept alive under the pretext that we need to save jobs. It’s the…</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
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    </div><p id="7255"><i>About Regenerative Business Models</i></p><div id="01ab" class="link-block">
      <a href="https://readmedium.com/business-models-from-linear-to-circular-to-regenerative-9f10c19f337">
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            <h2>Business Models: from Linear to Circular to Regenerative</h2>
            <div><h3>How can we create regenerative business models? How can business models benefit from synergy and create abundance for…</h3></div>
            <div><p>medium.com</p></div>
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Co-creating the Future

Let’s Not Forget to Mourn What We Are Losing

We’re gaining awareness during this crisis. We are losing a lot as well. Let’s not forget to mourn before co-creating a better future.

Raindrops in the city. Nature’s tears for the loss of an era. Photo by Joe Ciciarelli on Unsplash

We are in transition. The signs are clear and sharp. Many scientists have been describing this change for decades now. But with the current worldwide crisis, we’re speeding up.

And it’s getting chaotic.

We thought we had it all sorted. During the last century of industrial progress, we’ve tamed the wilderness. We fight our illnesses with antibiotics. We have our vaccines.

We have our asphalt roads, our concrete skyscrapers. We eat our industrial, processed hamburgers and we drink our coca-cola.

We control the world.

Until the viruses came. They are reminding us that the laws of nature will always be ruling our planet. Ruling our world. Life is uncertain. Life is uncontrollable.

Tomorrow, life can be different.

My generation X is not used to uncertainty. We’ve known no war. No shortages. No large pandemics like the Spanish flu (1918).

Of course, we had crises. Nine-eleven shook our world. The bank crisis shook our economy. But life went on as before after the shock waves subsided.

I think it will be different this time.

Not at first. We’ll try to go on as before. But we won’t succeed.

The mess has become too big. And young people are born too aware. Too sensitive to accept that we have created an empty, purposeless life.

No meaning. No depth. No soul.

The fear can be felt clearly in all the layers of our societies. It’s never been so widespread. It’s never before been felt on all continents, in all countries. In all social classes. In all age groups.

Fear of illness.

Fear of losing our lives.

Fear of a collapsing economy.

But this story will not be a very emotional one. I want to give you a more rational perspective this time. About transitioning. About mourning. About the horizon where a new tomorrow is carefully showing her first tender sprouts.

The first tender sprouts of an abundant future. Photo by Akil Mazumder from Pexels

Transition Times

Jan Rotmans, Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, has been working on transitions for 30+ years. First on large system changes, then on changes within organizations and now on personal transition.

Jan says:

“In the decades ahead, our society will transform into a new order in which the power relations as we know them will have been radically altered. This is not a pipedream, but the inescapable outcome of the big transition underway. All social sectors that failed to put people center-stage are running up against their limits.”

— Jan Rotmans

All change is personal, he says. “You cannot consider change as something outside of yourself. The deep transformations we find ourselves in today occur once every 100 to 150 years only.”

Instead of calling it an era of change, he calls it a change of era.

It inspired me to use the image at the top. Raindrops in the city. Nature’s tears for the loss of an era.

Something new and better will emerge. E.g. new social systems. A recognition for healthcare workers and teachers as being valuable for our society. I just saw a picture of our neo-liberal salary system shared online.

May 2020, Malieveld The Hague. The statues represent the salaries of vital jobs like care workers, teachers, our premier (second right) and the CEO of airline KLM (right). Artist Yuri Veerman, picture Ruben Jacobs.

The artist Yuri Veerman was quoted: “We didn’t only want to show the CEO of KLM, but also those of Shell and Booking.com. But we couldn’t. The pedestals would become too high.”

A good crisis will lay bare the system faults of our societies. Will create awareness. And gives us an opportunity to correct them. This is what’s happening now on a big scale.

However, on a smaller scale, the personal scale, it feels completely different.

It sucks!

Loss on a Personal Level

We are losing so many things and we don’t even know what we’ll be losing exactly yet.

  • Are we losing our comfortable lifestyle?
  • Are we losing our freedom to do as we please when we want to?
  • Are we losing our ability to travel the world, hopping on planes whenever we fancy a change of scenery?
  • Are we losing our privacy because of corona-apps?
  • Are we losing our job? Our house? Our pension-plan?

And what about people in much poorer countries?

  • Are we dying of hunger because the shops are empty and the land is dry?
  • Are we facing war?
  • How do we deal with corona on top of diarrhea, measles, malaria, and ebola?

Change is Not Rational

A gap will open up in many families where people are for the lockdown or against it. Where generational conflicts are fought out. Where cases of domestic violence have risen sharply worldwide.

Where we hear shouting voices:

“How are we supposed to pay the rent?”

“Why is that important when my sister is fighting for her life on intensive care?”

“You young ones are putting lives at risk with your corona parties.”

“Well, you oldies have created a sh*tty world. Climate change and all. And now we have to give up our fun for your health? I don’t think so!”

We hoard toilet paper because our unconscious tells us we’re in danger.

Change does that. It’s not rational. It ignites fear in our little amygdala brain. And depression and an overall sense of despair.

The 5 Stages of Mourning

And before we can move on, we need to address these emotions. We need to mourn our loss. We need to go through all the stages. There’s no getting around it. Some people will do so quicker than others.

Let’s take time to mourn!

This is a cry from my heart to yours. Cry salty tears. Feel the despair in your body and soul. Before you let it go and go on to merrier times.

Elisabeth Kubler Ross was a Swiss-American psychiatrist who wrote many books about grief. About loss. And about dying.

She created a model for grief, consisting of 5 stages. Denial, anger, depression, and bargaining before finally, acceptance will give us a bit more peace of mind.

She never meant it as a linear process, though. Loss is personal, grief is personal. So some people will skip stages when others will go back to earlier stages. It’s like a spiral.

And every way that works for you is okay.

Chaos Is Normal

Maybe it also helps to know that chaos is normal. And out of chaos, a new order will arise. In nature, it’s a well-known phenomenon that’s described in the Chaos-theory below.

Abundant Future

Maybe it also helps to keep our eyes focused on the horizon as soon as we’ve shed the tears.

A vision for a new tomorrow. A better one than today.

What will it look like? Can we co-create it together? How can I contribute?

I really want to believe that we are capable of creating a future that aligns the economy, ecology, and the human spirit.

That we can find a way of being part of the natural ecosystems and thrive as humans on a healthy planet.

Together with other humans, in peace. Together with other species, sharing. Unleashing the abundance of nature so no one needs to be hungry.

I think it's vital to co-create this world. And the current crisis proves it.

Viruses will not go away. And if we don’t restore ecosystems and preserve biodiversity, new viruses will jump from animals to humans again and again.

It’s so logical. Ecologists have warned us for decades already. Viruses have unique animal hosts. We are destroying the habitats of these animals, so the viruses need new hosts.

So viruses invade us instead of the species that are going extinct.

It’s nature. It’s what viruses do. They invade…

And we, humans, have to live with what we unleashed…

And be honest. We’re all trying very hard to keep our economy running. But the economic system is just not resilient at all. Many people are falling by the wayside. We can do better. Really, we can do better.

We just need to want it badly enough. All of us.

Restoring Ecosystems Is Key

My motto still stands:

“Let’s restore ecosystems and learn as humans how to live within the boundaries of our planet.”

It’s possible. It’s happening. And I write about it.

So if you want to be part of the transition, take up your own role. Now’s the time. Be a player. And help us tip the scales.

And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn or Facebook. Or somewhere crying my eyes out. And laughing out loud. Feet firmly on the soil. Connecting to Gaia while mourning…

Further reading

About the author

How our economic system is ruining our world, our planet, our home

About Regenerative Business Models

Future
Self
Sustainability
Ideas
Mourning
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