How the Pandemic has snatched away those special memories
Socially and psychologically we are at a tipping point. The Pandemic has challenged us in so many ways. It has forced us to rethink every principle we have deferred by. It has proved to us that no one, no matter their station in life is safe from the clutches of the virus - thereby leveling the playing field.
Milestone moments are meaningful - for each one of us. Significant in marking our life events with a surge of joy and the thrill of memories. To be captured in a picture, stored in the minds eye, shared with family and friends and remembered and reminisced forever. But now we have been robbed of moments that are poignant. The Pandemic with it's requirements of personal isolation, social distancing have left in it's wake a swathe of broken dreams, missed celebrations, confined funerals and milestones lost in the year seared in everyone's mind.
Summer is the time to celebrate graduations, proms, weddings, barbecues and summer getaways. Instead, as a nation we are making do with drive by graduation wishes, virtual tik tok videos, zoom festivities and weddings with masks. At times, we seem to entirely forgo the celebrations, especially if these are events like milestone birthdays when family cannot travel or even meet.
Will Life Return to Normal?
As science races to find a cure and humanity bands together to fight the virus, we are being urged by everyone to remain positive as the world slowly resets. But is this easy to do? Isn't is hard not to question every now and then - will life return to the normal as we knew it? And when will that actually happen?
Another thought follows in quick succession: Will the loss of those landmark moments rob us of something essential in our collective, emotional subconscious? Will the insidious effects of the virus invasion be more far reaching than just physical? Should we even allow ourselves to go down that rabbit hole?
The moment these thoughts invade out psyche we have to remind ourselves that when we are our best selves, the possibilities are endless. That when we are united in our quest we can finally realize our full potential. I am a believer that human beings can both strive for perfection and yet acknowledge that they are vulnerable and imperfect - therein lies our beauty and strength. Is this what drives the couples who have boldly forged a path and gone ahead and committed to each other during the time of the #COVID?
Stolen Experiences - Reclaimed Community
For the young adult who never got to experience the prom, the college student who was robbed of the campus experience, the toddler bemused as to why he or she cannot have a birthday party, to the countless couples stressed because they have had to postpone weddings and engagements - this year will be remembered as a year of stolen experiences.
But this will also be the year that brought families, couples, friends, partners and significant others closer - a crisis that provided clarity. A year that brought out the best in us and focused our energy towards what matters while the extraneous falls by the wayside.
Even as we question why this calamity is upon us, and when it will truly "end," let us reset ourselves and make a pledge to reclaim our community with the means we have, rather than focus on the things we cannot control.
We Are Stronger Together
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