You ever thought what it’d be like if your life was a movie?
Look no further! Because you and the rest of the world are living in one!
Plot movie: Deadly virus spread through animal-human transmission killing millions of people globally. Racing against time, health scientists all over the world come together to find a vaccine that could save humankind from this virus. At the same time, essential workers work tirelessly helping those who are sick and providing services to those who are ordered to stay at home.
What a shock it is to think that merely 5 months ago when we rang into the new year that we would slowly go down a rabbit hole with no clearance of where the light at the end of the tunnel is. Frustration, confusion, anxiety, anger and fear are the top 5 emotions the whole world must feel since then.
Environmental disasters such as the Australian bush fire and the volcanic eruption/activities in the Ring of Fire, retaliation between US/middle east and the death of a sports Icon are long trampled when the impact of the deadly Coronavirus or Covid-19 had taken place; more so in Canada by March 2020.
The whole world has been on a lock-down for almost 6 weeks, with each respective country leaders ordering their countrymen to stay at home and limit, if not cease, all contacts with anyone outside your home. Only leniency is to purchase necessities, so we are able to live as safe as possible in the comfort of our own homes.
Though physically we are all distanced, modern technology has been enhanced to provide solace and connection for families and friends who are unable to reunite. This uncertainty has provided them a variety of conclusions that society would probably not realize if the world was not pushed to a halt. Time, which many found they have less and less with their busy schedules, have been now trampled with abundance. Parents are now home with their children everyday doing activities they’ve promised to do many times before but were unable to. Hobbies are now practiced, and skills are enhanced. Instruments are learned, homes are renovated, and self-reflection are jotted down multiple times in a day. We see strangers providing more assistance to their elderly neighbours by providing groceries or just to check up on them to see if they are doing all right. We see children outside in the front yards playing games or families going out for walks to breathe in the fresh air.
We also discover the true definition of what is essential in our society in order to thrive in such circumstances. Healthcare workers and front-line workers such as grocery/retail employees have risen above their duties to ensure we are all provided for; working almost non-stop, exposing and risking their own safety for the sake of others. Truly they have risen above to provide to us when we cannot.
By no means is this temporary lock-down romanticized by the positive aspects that has come out of it, as still, many struggle financially from the burden of being unable to work. It poses its own mental-health challenges that many do not know how to move forward from. But what is taken out of this is that while we do not know when we are able to move forward, the world will continue, and this darkness too will end. We recognize and discover the strength in each of us as an individual and as a unit with our family to do what we can to survive. We can stop in our track to appreciate our surroundings and really see its beauty. Its not the easiest thing to do, and we must be OK to feel all these emotions as we ride the wave in this storm. This is the time to look at things in a smaller frame rather than the bigger picture as it can be overwhelming. Take each day at a time and if you would like to plan, only plan ahead little by little. Do not overburden yourself with things that are not under your control – hell, its no one’s control at all! Take a deep breathe, in every sense of the word, taking in the good while exhaling the bad.
Everything will be OK in the end – so if the moment you are in right now is not OK, it simply means it isn’t the end. As they say, if you find yourself in a bad place, why stop there? All the more reason to keep going.