“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

You may have noticed that the decade thus far has been jarring or shocking, well at the same time inspiring and hopeful such as new beginnings often are. For some, it is registering as a time of intense pressure to complete things and move on.  For others, it is a feeling of everything happening all at once, with all of the components of that experience demanding immediate attention from a limited store of energy. Time may seem to be going so fast while standing still. The contrast is revealing the things we need to see.

Just the beginning

The decade of the 2020s will be a time when contrasts in the human experience – individually and collectively — will be higher than ever.  There will be no place to hide from the parts of you hanging in different strings of yourself; people will no longer be able to mask their authentic self. Privacy will redefine itself yet again as if it were old software getting an upgrade so that it can fit into smaller aspects of our lives, rather than in one prominent place. Who we really are, as individual human beings, will be accentuated, in all its beauty and imperfection, for better or for worse, and collectively so.

The decade ahead is, therefore, one of the most fervent times for elevating the entire human experience: a feeling of wellness and being happy, physical fitness, bold accomplishments, meaningful relationships and financial prosperity, to name a few.

The changes already coming are not going to force us into a vast hippy farm where everyone gives up their individuality. The future thrives on individuality that is no longer waiting for you to perfect yourself before you go out into the marketplace of people and ideas. The lights will be on, brightly, distinguishing everyone from everyone else. It won’t matter if you don’t feel ready to take on life to its fullest. The “Universe” will force its hand, with you kicking and screaming along the way if necessary, if you don’t do it for yourself.

If you take up your cause, fully, the resources, possibilities, and support that you will feel will be equal to the overwhelm you will experience if you try to hide away from the world. Your RSVP card has arrived, and you will participate, sooner or later. The question is only under what circumstances and on whose terms.

No longer can we sit in the sidelines, watching or participating indirectly. It’s a roll-up-our-sleeves and get-to-work period. The entire decade ahead is a process, so much so that we will learn to work together to help elevate one another – if for no other reason than because we become an example to one another, and we belong to one another, but with our individuality critically in place and accentuated.

For those who choose to fall back into the woodwork and watch from a distance, life will become more and more complicated and even heartbreaking.  Life itself will demand that distance, separation and solitude give way to integration, connection and participation. Because of the evolution of the human experience, this will become more and more unavoidable as this decade unfolds.

The decade ahead is going to teach humankind how we belong to one another, and how we have to work together to resolve our problems.

The current period brings to mind an experience that I had in Orange County, California, several years ago, during an unusually cold winter — a harbinger of this time in human history.  At the time, I had befriended a woman from Gibraltar living in LA, and who made it a point to feed the homeless in Santa Monica. So on my way to help her, each day, I would cross paths with the same homeless man begging for money and his very survival. I felt an urgency about the man which led me to bring him a hot coffee each day when I saw him, and so that I could keep an eye on him — his smile warmed my spirits as much as I believe he appreciated my gifts. From the window of my car, and only while the traffic light was red, I carried on a daily conversation with him. 

Then one day, everything changed. A fire raged through the hills above, reducing multi-million dollar mansions to ashes. It was only later that I learned that this very same man lit a small fire – to keep warm – and the wind coming off the ocean spread the fire rapidly. The lesson I learned from that was that we are all human, and that one person’s need to keep warm, when ignored, burned down the whole neighborhood. Suddenly, everyone – all of the people who had stared through him like he was invisible, like they were better or separate from him – was homeless, just like that man. They were the same.

The times we live in are about to teach us everything in high contrast, and in a way we’ve never seen before.  We will see a stronger comparison between opposing realities.  We will need to choose then in which world we want to live. It will make us feel deep sadness and great joy, often side-by-side. We will find ourselves understanding people whom we perceived to be our enemies, and being able to relate to their humanity, through our collective story, the one about humankind. There will sometimes we an inner battle that we experience, to know ourselves better.  It will be both beautiful and tragic.  And we will have to choose: which do we want to experience moving forward. 

Choose as if you are choosing your entire future.

We are only as strong as our weakest link.  The decade ahead will teach us how important the weakest link is to our individual survival and wellness, and that by paying attention to other people’s needs, we are addressing our own needs. It will become a matter of life and death at some point ahead.  To the degree to which we ignore this, we will have an opportunity to learn so on a profoundly personal level.

The future looks bright – for all of us, together. We’re going to learn this, even if it kills us.