The plan was to put these words down somewhere around the time a year had passed since the first Covid-19 lockdown announcement.
As it usually is the case with life, that didn’t work out as planned.
I wanted to sit down and reflect on this strange period of
life because there are certain things I’ve noticed about myself when looking at other people's reactions. Alas, this same life
stopped me from focusing on reflection by starting to get busy. Honestly, I
should have seen this coming. Restrictions are being lifted so better job
offers are starting to appear and I finally got to move to the flat next door.
I say “finally” because it was being renovated since
February when it was supposed to take a few weeks. Between the intensified job
hunt, moving my things and having Artemis meow sadly as all her things were
slowly disappearing, I barely had any time to adjust. One evening my body gave
up and I struggled through headaches and nausea. Fortunately, it was nothing
lying in bed couldn’t fix.
I’m feeling much better now and although a significant portion of my belongings is still in boxes, I’m settled in well enough to gather my thoughts properly:
1 – People complaining about wearing masks are petulant children.
2 – Although there have been negative changes to my lifestyle caused by the pandemic, I have been managing to go through it quite fine.
I’ve learned of people mentally struggling with aspects of life that were
of no concern to me. This made me realise most people must truly hate my
lifestyle. Suddenly, no one is going out to socialise and drink in a pub or
club. Travel evaporated as people were confined to their homes. Some even only
managed to go to a restaurant only twice last year. Seeing people having mental
breakdowns over what amounts to my normal way of life was truly bizarre.
3 – The biggest change caused by this pandemic has been moving back to an online focused life.
I say “back” because it gave me a mixed
sense of nostalgia and regression. I spent a lot of time working on moving away
from an online existence which was my staple in high school and throughout my
university years. Going back to my comfort zone was odd to say the least but I
enjoyed spending time with my friends... at least at first. As time went on
people were increasingly complaining about the way we were hanging out and the
means we used to play games. I tried to ignore it because it was either
this or nothing at all but after a few months, it soured my relationships with
my gaming friends to an extent where I had to take a step back.
I can’t say that I was unaffected by the pandemic. My career
and personal development plans took such a massive hit, I often worry I may not
recover from it but my mental health suffered little from being confined to my
home… which is the place I look forward to going back to the most.
The main thing I can take away from the series of lockdowns is that now, more than ever, I see I’m not made for this “normal” that we had before them. As restrictions are easing and people are anticipating going back to “normal”, I’m not sure when I’ll be making the step to re-join the masses.
