Love Lockdown
It is said that [Shakespeare's] time was easier than ours, but I doubt it—no time can be easy if one is living through it.
James Baldwin
I went out to eat on Sunday and it kind of felt like the last supper. Waitresses and waiters were extra friendly, the anxiety and fear of the unknown laid thick in the air, while conversations were at an all time high and the drinks were flowing like an open tab. Everyone on social media was out and about enjoying their last Hurra with cocktails, food and good company before the clock stroke midnight. Preparing for a month long lockdown. We have heard it before and one month turned into a much longer and harder ordeal than any one of us could have imagined. The saga continues, I guess..
Unlike what the title suggests, Lockdown 2.0 is upon us and I am not particularly loving it. And no, I wasn't the type to be out and about pre-lockdown but there is a difference between not wanting to go out and being told not to go out. The more you're restricted to do something, the more you feel the need and urge to do it. Humans, am I right?
If you’re like me, then you may love your alone time but we also love having company and being around people without the fear of infecting ourselves with a virus that has no (known) cure. It seems like the world is on edge, everyone is sitting in front of their screens anxiously awaiting what is coming next. Americans and non Americans alike are waiting for the final votes to be counted and poll results to come in, videos look like stills from a apocalyptic movie, shop owners barricading their stores and people not leaving their houses.The world is looking at their leaders and how covid-19 will be handled from here on out, many nations declaring one lockdown after the other. There’s an uprising in Africa, Nigeria is crying out to end SARS. Ethiopia is headed for Civil War, human trafficking is at an all time high. And the list goes on. Staying sane in insane times such as these is a highly required and wanted skill. Therapists, are on speed dial, instagram therapists are gaining a larger following by the minute because our mental health is on the line. Whoever is writing the script for 2020 better have a plot twist at hand that will have us all breathing steadily again, because I don’t know about you but the anxiety is all too real at this point.
How do we enjoy life when life is handing out one bitter lemon after the other and there’s no sugar or as a matter of fact no energy to make lemonade? Maybe we stop accepting the bitter lemons that are being handed to us and go pick sweet strawberries (or whatever fruit you like) instead.
The second round of lockdown, which has often been referred to as lockdown light even though I am guessing that depending on who you ask, every one will give you a different definition of how "light" it really is, doesn’t have to be as sad and draining as the first round. There are always different ways that we can use to find joy and being confronted with the known in the midst of the unknown can give us an upper hand on a situation that sometimes seems incontrollable. Did you maybe find a new passion during lockdown 1.0? Did you find rest. Perhaps you reconnected with an old friend or reconciled with family members? Or maybe you found yourself, a new more aware you, more enhanced you, more emotional you? Who is to say that this can’t happen to you again in a better way? Put your phone down (after reading this of course) and try and occupy yourself with something other than the disasters that seem to be never ending and multiplying by the minute. Because even in the midst of a storm, there is peace to be found. If this pandemic has shown me one thing then it is the fact that things don’t just go away because we want them to leave. And if you can’t change the situation maybe you can change your attitude while going through it. I can attest to the attitude part.
Love,
Maame