Uncertainty

I have been dragging my feet on posting. I knew it would be hard to ignore the fact that the citizens of the United Kingdom -- my adopted second country -- have voted to recommend we should leave the European Union.

This outcome was certainly not what I was expecting and I know I am not alone. And I don't think the days and weeks and months and years of trying to move forward as a country and continent are going to be easy or predictable. 

I found myself getting very frustrated when I thought about this. Kind of like when something unexpected happens in my day or week and I can't do what I wanted or get the "right" things accomplished. Although of course, on a much bigger scale. Work has been so busy recently and I was hoping it would quiet down, at least for the summer. But now that's not happening!

Which got me thinking about the fact that we always live under the veil of thinking that life is pretty certain and routine most of the time. We know what our vacation plans are for the summer or what meetings we will have next week for work. We pretend that we know where we're going and how we'll get there and I guess maybe that keeps us sane most of the time.

And then... things happen. The Brexit vote happens. Boom! 

Suddenly uncertainty hits, which shakes us to our core. But thinking that life was certain, well, that was an illusion in the first place. Which means that the most important thing is to keep living your life, doing the work that's important to you, the activities that you love and spending time with the people you care about. Because we have very little control over anything else. (We may not even have much control over those things, but we can try.)

I'm still digesting what happened over the last week or so, as all of us are. And in my professional day job I will be following it closely, and writing lots about its impact. But outside of office hours, in the meantime, I am going to refer back to my summertime post and try to make the most of the next few months while it is still light and (somewhat) warm, while all the uncertainty rages. Last night, when we came home, the Hub and I caught the last bit of twilight in the garden sipping a limoncello. Because what else can you do? (Well, you can sign the petition. If you voted remain, or if you voted leave, but have since changed your mind. Sign it here.)

I am also campaigning to continue with our plans of renovating the kitchen. We need to support the economy even more now!

Photo credit: Brexit tea via photopin (license)
Photo credit: Limoncello via photopin (license)