The pandemic days made people think that they would have plenty of time to fill in and, at the same time, the idea that they will need more than 24 hours a day. After a while, they noticed that they need 24 hours multiplied by the number of their new roles. Suddenly, parents needed to turn their homes into offices and started to work from home. Beyond their work, they became teachers' assistants, housekeepers and also kids' entertainers because extra school activities were no longer available.
In the beginning, we all had to deal with a new reality and we were very successful to
be adapted and to introduce big changes in our days. Almost everything was new and, even if we all were very scared, we felt strong because we knew exactly what to do and how to do. And if we didn't know, we were ready to learn about it.
People used different strategies but we knew that we need to be active and try to avoid sad and scary feelings. We need to be an optimist realist, to be prepared for the worst hoping that the best will happen. It was like a war. we thought that we needed to be busy as a strategy to avoid thinking about the fact that our world was changing not in a good way. Around us, everyone tried to give us ideas of how we can fill our days with meaningful activities. Helping others less fortunate, online courses, online cultural visits, new apps to be with friends and family, become fit guided by online personal trainers,... All of these existed before, but suddenly they became visible to all and gained greater importance than they had in the previous days.
The pandemic gave us multiple roles and made us more aware of the people around us, even though we were more separated. It brought us the idea that we can do more by doing less and that together we could win the fight between the whole world and an invisible enemy. It also gave us an idea of proficiency and creativity, many people experienced new activities, new situations, new ways of doing old things... maybe we didn't reinvent completely our personality, but certainly we reinvented our days. And above all, we cared for all and we were certain about who were our special persons, who were our beloved ones.
We multiplied ourselves to have time to get in touch with friends and family who with we hadn't talked for a while. We really wanted to know how they were and to be sure that they were safe and sound. We started paying attention to the answer "How are you?" not just because it was polite to ask when we met someone that we didn't know very well. We payed attention because we really care about them and also because if they were feeling great, their status make us feel great too.
People searched online about everything that could bring novelty to their days. People searched online courses about everything from online cooking classes to computer languages or science of well-being. They started shopping from home even stuff that they didn't buy this way before. Magazines, newspapers, bloggers, media,...even our friends share new ideas how our days can be better and above all filled.
Everything seemed to be an opportunity to grow, develop our skills and realize our potential. Everything seemed a good time to talk to people, to see people we didn't see before so often, even if it was only online. We also started to see the hidden people who always improve our days, the delivery guys, the janitors, the caretakers, the cashiers and the health professionals,... we felt really blessed to have them in our lives doing something.
Some people started to see out of their personal bubbles for the first time, they started to see that the rules are not the same for everyone, they felt heartbroken about unknown people, they felt compassion and empathy.
Almost seven months have passed since the first Covid-19 and our way of looking at new cases has also changed. Unfortunately, Covid-19 is now, for a huge number of people around the world, something that we have started to be used, something that has become just one thing in our daily routine, another illness. What I really want to highlight in this text is that it is very important to keep adding the good things of the pandemic to our days. We need to continue seeing all the people around us, be grateful to the anonymous and almost invisible workers, fill our days with meaningful activities, learn something everyday, be nice to our co-workers, pay attention to the people around us, our friends and family and ourselves as well. It is also important to remember every second that the invisible enemy is still around us and that we need to be alert and always ready to fight it.
E.C.
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