No Performances, No Weddings - Where Do We Go from Here?

People have become accustomed to receiving reinforcements from those around them.

In other words, I feel good about myself, but it greatly depends on how people perceive me. Some get their reinforcements from home—from a spouse, children, siblings, parents. Others need these reinforcements from outside—in the workplace, in school, in public. The more they go to populous places and people recognize them and say, "There's no one like you in the world," it makes them feel great.

We see the difference between these two groups during coronavirus times. Those individuals whose reinforcement comes from home continue receiving it during lockdowns, during isolation, and during days when one could not venture beyond half a kilometer to a kilometer from home.

But what happens to those people who have grown accustomed to receiving reinforcement from the entire world? What happens to a singer used to getting reinforcement immediately after finishing a song at a performance?

There are no performances, no weddings, and no one invites them to a wedding of twenty people.

(Photo: shutterstock)

What do we do now?

These people suddenly begin to feel useless, isolated, and even experience feelings of fear. Something in their stability is shaken.

What must we do to overcome this?

King Solomon, after reigning over the entire world, the Talmud offers two opinions about what he ruled when Ashmedai threw him beyond the mountains of his kingdom.

There is an opinion that he ruled only over his clothes, and another that he ruled over his staff. What does that mean? Are they mocking King Solomon, saying he ruled over his staff?

The answer is definitively no.

Says King Solomon: "Whether I have or do not have; whether people applaud me or not, once I know I am a king because of my content, because of my value, because of the personal things I believe in, I reign even over a staff, and I am still a king."

Each of us should, despite all the reinforcements from our surroundings, accept self-evaluation and personal testing without regard to those around us. And the more you value yourself because you believe you're doing the right thing, the less you will depend on others. Regardless of what you go through, you will always be able to feel stable, happy, and content.

Blessings to you all!