Strange Times | Part 1
Well… how did we get here? What… happened?!
This is a bit of a long read so please go and grab a beverage if it will help you to concentrate 😂.
Just as a heads up this will post will include some hard realities of the current times, but also some of the good things happening. Apologies if it does gets somewhat heavy for you.
So much has happened and so quickly. We’ve gone from living normal and unrestrictive lives, seeing friends and family to not being able to really see anyone who’s not in our household (and for some of us, we don’t have anyone in our households with us). My work place told us to work from home on 16th March and now it’s the 16th April. People who were planning weddings or to celebrate birthdays in a big way have had to cancel their plans. Festivals have halted. Toilet roll has been a rare commodity due to panic buying. Who would have thought that in the West people would stock up like crazy on toilet roll? These last 4 weeks have LITERALLY felt like months!
COVID-19 has turned the world upside down. We are commanded to stay in our homes (if we have the luxury of having a roof over our heads) and we are physically distancing from each other. We went from hugs & shaking hands to bumping elbows and tapping feet to a 2 metre wave (hello) if we happen to bump into each other on our 1 hour allotted exercise or food shopping.
Zoom has taken over our lives (other substitutes are Skype, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp have a group call feature too - you’re welcome) and we have to practise self-control - just because the sun comes out does not mean that COVID rules no longer apply. Just saying.
Processing this change has been difficult, especially because we don’t know when this will all end. I have had times where I have been fine and been full of faith that this will all end soon by the power and grace of God to laying down and crying my eyes out for half an hour. It seemed like as soon as we got used to one bit of news… CHANGE. Then the next change and the next. Our day-to-day has probably never felt this unstable and uncertain.
Families are separated. Everyone is restrained to his or her house. Many have lost loved ones to this virus. I remember being so quickly upset with Boris Johnson when he said that would happen because in my head I thought as a leader he should be bringing hope to the situation, but in hindsight I see he was trying to warn people as some were just being reckless with the distancing measures (and still are). Because of all these measures, funerals can’t even happen in the same way anymore (I can testify to that). Limited numbers and no wakes. I think especially of Ghanaian funerals and actually the impact that will have.
Jobs and income are being affected, which plays with our sanity. Some have been furloughed (I’m currently in week 2), some have lost their jobs. Some entrepreneurs can receive government help, some are not eligible. Some people have to work less hours. Some have to work more. A lot of people can work from home and others who are considered key workers cannot.
There are two things that pull on my heart strings the most at this time: those who live in areas around the world with poor sanitation and in a way that they don’t have the luxury to self isolate, and those in unsafe households. Just breaks my heart…
Even though there is all of this that makes me sad, and there are different theories going around (e.g. that this isn’t COVID-19 and actually 5G wreaking havoc with our bodies), it’s difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel…
And yet…
💡 Community spirit is growing in a different way. People are forming WhatsApp groups with those on their street to see if anyone is in need, coming out every Thursday to clap and cheer for the NHS and other keyworkers and checking in with each other in a way they never have before. There is a lot of outward looking rather than inward looking.
💡 Artists around the world are hosting free concerts online (some I’ve seen on IG Live) for people to be a part of. Companies, like Adobe and Zoom, are either giving away whole month trials of their products or extending group chat times on free accounts.
💡 The world can breathe a bit whilst we stay at home! Pollution has significantly dropped here in the UK. Clearer waters have returned to Venice due to the reduction of the canal traffic (there were reports of Dolphins returning but that unfortunately was fake news). More birds (well at least outside my window) are tweeting away happily.
💡 People are SURVIVING COVID-19! It can be so easy to look at everything that the media is feeding us and not look at the fact that COVID is not an automatic death sentence. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a nasty virus that has fatalities, but there are people who also come out of the other side ok.
💡 For some of us, we’ve taken the opportunity to connect with people like we never have before. We’ve taken advantage of Zoom, Skype, Google hangouts, etc, to have meals together, watch movies together, go on walks together and even exercise together from a distance. We’re taking part in social media challenges like #dontrush or #worshipathome. Some have taken to YouTube to document their quarantining journey.
💡 And most of us are forced to slow down. Our schedules have changed. Those who work from home now have reduced commuting time. Those with children are making more memories with them. We have to be slower to anger and frustration with family members because we don’t know when offices and the educational system will restart again. Patience will become a well worked muscle but the time we’re out of this! 😂
💡 The church is uniting in prayer and people are exploring the possibility of the existence of God. Those that didn’t really have an online presence before are emerging and getting creative with it. There’s also people who are seeking to share good news stories in the shadow of this pandemic. This is one of the channels I came across the other day called “Some Good News” and it is SO refreshing to watch something and get joy.
It’s so hard to marry the negatives and positives in this whole situation I have really struggled, especially because some of the negatives seem to outweigh the positives. I have cried a lot over the last month. In order to stay sane, I have to remind myself that there are two sides to everything - a good and a bad. The best things I can do is take it to God in prayer, listen to the safety advice that we have been given and look at the teachable lessons in this whole pandemic. I would put them in here but I’ll do a part 2. This is already an essay!
Thanks so much for reading and look out for part 2 coming up in the next couple of days. Stay safe ✌🏾✌🏾
