Little Circle, Big Circle

On the Paradox of Being Okay When the World Isn't

Little Circle, Big Circle

People ask, "How are you doing?" And I've started to answer, "Little circle, pretty good actually, though the big circle could be better."

Then I explain that little circle is my life, where I'm feeling fairly healthy, there's enough money to pay the rent until my next paid gig, I'm working on creative projects that are interesting to me, making headway with some long-existing administrative tasks, and no one close to me has died.

And big circle is pretty much everything else, family members and friends dealing with illness, friends and acquaintances losing their jobs, people geographically nearby dealing with the aftermath of fires, people in my field dealing with the decline of our industry as we have known it, and everyone dealing with the maelstrom of reality shifts in our ecology (climate change-related events) and our technology (A.I.), and politics (encroaching fascism and removal of rights, discrimination, financial upheavals and, ya know, just - everything).

The circles are temporal as well, with my little circle existing at this moment in time, and concentric big circles aligning to points in the future that will inexorably grow nearer to my little dot (or maybe the other way around) at which time the ramifications of all the aforementioned shifts will enter my own circle of experience.

When I say big circle = world, little circle = me, people seem to recognize it right away. I think a lot of us share a sense of wonder that objects falling from the sky have not yet landed on top of us (at least not too directly) and a sense of mental bifurcation between life that is not so different from usual and a world that is changing at every turn.

Looking for a little graphic to include, I googled "circles of experience" and found this among the offerings, which upon reflection, seems apropos.

And there, for today, I will stop.

Best wishes for your little circle, and for our shared big circle.

Barrington

P.S. Of late, I've observed I begin to write as my self-imposed deadline grows near, then give myself one more day. Thus my bi-weekly Wednesday publishing goal became Thursday, Thursday became Friday, etc. For those who like to know the plan (which is me, even though my ability to stick to the plan is limited), I'm currently publishing each two weeks + one day, creating a rotation. Last bi-week, I mailed on Saturday. Today is Sunday. It's likely you'll hear from me two weeks from tomorrow, on Monday. Looking forward to it! – B