More than two years into the pandemic and it’s still influencing our lives, upending plans and jostling our expectations. It’s tiring, and I’ll bet you might feel the same “pandemic fatigue” that I do from time to time.
It’s not surprising; the modern world has been disrupted and is trying to settle back into a norm for our time. We were thrown into a pandemic marathon without warning, preparation or choice. Now we face the hardest part – the home stretch. In actual marathons, runners say the last six miles are more difficult than the first 20 (a marathon is 26.2 miles/42 kilometres). It’s when they “hit the wall” both mentally and physically. For many of us, that’s how it feels now. Occasionally, we may want to quit, but now especially we must not. We have to see this through and come out with the pandemic in our rear-view mirror. Now especially, we have to keep pacing ourselves, actively rehydrate, and draw on our “intestinal fortitude” and courage – all without stopping. This is what surviving and success will take now. We have to continually find the mental edge to propel ourselves forward.
If COVID has taught us anything, it’s that our “marathon” has the added challenge of not actually knowing how long it will be. We know it will end (all pandemics end), and we’re nearly sure most of it is behind us (respiratory disease pandemics historically last about two years), but we’re not sure when things will finally, really, feel more like what we were used to.
2021 showed substantial dive industry recovery – not uniformly to be sure, but broadly. 2022 is looking up, too. I am not resigned to pandemic anxiety and tarry, and personally take solace in the Persian adage of “this too shall pass.” If we keep moving forward through this fatigue, changing lives through diving, exploring and saving the ocean will reward us richly. That goal is worth running toward – so let’s keep going together.
Sincerely,
Drew Richardson
PADI President & CEO
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