“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.” Epictetus, Discourses, 2.5.4–5
I chose January 2021 to start my big island-nation project. To visit our borders, inland and coastline, and photograph them at this once-in-a-lifetime moment of Brexit-induced reinvention. Having spend the lockdowns of 2020 on the coronacoaster of emotion – from no motivation at all to too many ideas to execute and back again every month – on 1 January I was finally – finally – ready to start my “big project”.
New lockdown
On 4 January 2021 our Prime Minister addressed the nation and announced our third national lockdown. Optimistically an end date of mid-February was given but writing this at the end of January we now know we will be locked down until at least 8 March.
Everybody’s pandemic has been different. I am lucky to be able to work from home and I can easily live without indoor-socialising. As long as I could walk on the beach and meet people outdoors it was entirely bearable. This announcement – while undoubtedly the correct thing to do – hit me hard. I was ready to start and now I couldn’t.
Wisely (unwisely?) I had decided to do the Daily Stoic in 2021. First up: Epictetus and his advice not to concern ourselves with what we can’t control. I apparently needed to stop wasting energy thinking about all those missed shots. Instead I need to focus on what I can control. After some sulking I did manage to make peace with myself and the world, finding plenty to do in the background for my project.
Reactions to events
Stoically, I can’t control events but I can control my reactions to events. I can’t be out photographing but I’ve had the time to research interesting viewpoints: for example, there’s a place you can watch containers being unloaded at Felixtowe port, and another you can watch puffins take off at Bempton. I’ve also been putting together the world’s longest reading list about borders:
It snowed!
If life sends you snow, wrap up warm and don’t forget to over expose by up to 2 full stops because the camera’s auto exposure will be fooled.
ISO100, f11, 0.3 sec, Hasselblad CFV II 50C/907X, 45mm