Facing Uncertainty

So now, we’re here: in lockdown with no end in sight. It’s been a few weeks, coming up to one month, of staying at home and isolating for many of us. The government mandates and business closures have forced us to stay at home. We’re privileged to be able to do so, while frontline workers toil away tirelessly at the risk of their own health and while others fight to recover.

Admittedly, the first few days were rough for a lot of people. We’ve had to rearrange most of our lives to be inside our respective homes. We tried to figure out the best way to prepare and cope in such an unprecedented crisis in our lives. There was panic and apprehension as we waited with bated breath for news about everything, checking different news channels and constantly refreshing our feeds. Are classes cancelled? What about graduation? Do I still have a job? Are my loved ones alright? When will this end?

Will we be okay? 

 

Most things have remained the same since then and for some of us, we’re beginning to become accustomed to living life in quarantine. But as the streets are quiet and the days seem to blur into one another, our minds can be as loud as ever with anxieties. We feel the fear around us. We worry about tomorrow and what’s to come in the days after. We feel helpless in the situation and debilitated by our emotions. In a sense, it can feel like we’re being stripped of the things that make us ourselves. We can’t be around people and friends. We can’t go out to do our routines or the things we enjoy. We can’t partake in culture outside, only virtually. The things that we’ve planned for, that we’ve worked towards have been postponed. These things that gave us assurance and fulfilment don’t seem to be as reassuring anymore. We’re recognizing the things that we often take for granted.

 

As dark and dreary as it may feel at the moment, it won’t last forever. Find comfort in the silver linings present in your current situation to keep you going.  Hold on to the things that give you hope and joy; it may be your faith, your hobbies, your relationships and your community. Engage with the people accessible to you, whether that’s the family around you or the friends you see on zoom and talk to on the phone. Hope and help is at hand, even if we don’t immediately see it. 

Right now, we’re forced to reassess a lot of things: our actions, the lives we live, and what we value as a person. As individualistic as society tells us to be, now we must think and work together for the collective good of everybody. And afterwards, we’ll learn from the experience. We’ll rebuild, celebrate and continue to work together, and it will be glorious. 

 

But until then, we’ll do it from our homes. 

 

 

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