We did not choose this current situation we all find ourselves in. In fact, it just came stealing in like the proverbial thief in the night, and after what seemed like a great mishmash of one confusing newsbit after another, we just realized that suddenly, our world is changed forever and all of our plans had unceremoniously flown out the window. And then just like that, and it’s quarantine.
Thereafter, briefer moments of denial that this cannot really be happening or “you cannot be serious!” may have followed, before the caveman instinct at self-preservation, dormant in everyone, finally kicked in and took charge. Only then had we accepted and grudgingly ushered into our lives this new age of uncertainty that had dawned before us.
Well, it has been three weeks people, and surely, our collective anxiety and fear may have ebbed a bit already. Whether for better or for worse, things may be much clearer now. Yes, this forced period of isolation may have brought us into unfamiliar territories, all against our will, but in truth, it may have likewise tapped into the resilient parts of us that we may have taken for granted for a long time.
Two prime examples of this concern adjustments; like strict office mode suddenly implemented into a home setting, or a complete uproot of well established and decades-old routines (work, play, home) that may have led us into believing that they are the only things that truly define us.
With this new-found power of resilience eventually easing our anxieties in this time of COVID-19, people are finally discovering that there are things, long taken for granted, really matter after all, and it is ironic that they unravel at a time when we have our backs to the wall.
Take appreciation of family, for example. That, and the simple joys of waking up and having to spend all day with family members and children may have become a lost art to many, but is now available to all. Like the lockdown, you’ve no choice to it, as it has chosen you.
Also, we have all become introspective in a way, slowly re-learning long-forgotten skills, rebooting to unload unneeded traits and more important, becoming more empathic and understanding of those near and far from us. As some aptly describe it, this “global pause” , despite its horrible consequences, might have done us some good after all.
If we can just objectively glean beyond this sad reality of countless deaths and great misery, we might have probably said, why does it have to take the worst pandemic to bring us back and to have us realize where we should have stayed put in the first place? That is caring for one another as one common human race.
Hopefully after all these, the power of willful ignorance, where everyone is prepared to look the other way, dies along with COVID-19. Truth be told, it is far worse than any catastrophic event that had ever come our way.
