Glad You Called 4: Happy Thoughts in Times of Corona
To be completely honest, I don’t enjoy writing on this topic. I have recently gone through exam season and a two-week social project in Kenya, both of which have left me with some worthy reflections to share in separate future posts.
But then came COVID-19, and along with it a lot of uncertainty and change. Let’s face it though… If in the beginning of 2020 you had told me that I would finish my semester without even going to a classroom, that I might get employed without having to give a single handshake, that I would talk to my friends more often on a screen than in person, I would have not only laughed, but would’ve called you crazy.
Here we are, barely three months into 2020. Corona is the only thing we have been talking about over the last weeks, the only topic we have been reading about, and it is the only thought occupying our mind lately. Maybe you also, just like me, went through the different ‘corona states of mind’, which I have identified as: the Indifference phase; the ‘it-won’t-come-to-Europe’ denial phase; the ‘I-am-young’ Invincibility phase; the I-don’t-have-time-to-think-about-this phase; and the Full Impact phase, where you realize that you cannot and should not go outside, and where your life is suddenly very different.
Whether you have experienced similar thoughts and feelings or not, it does not really matter. What matters for young people is what do we do now, and in the near future, with our time. In the next lines I hope to give to all of us some positives to consider in a time which seems to be all-negative.
Initially, after university closed until the end of the year and all classes went online, I returned home (to be with my family) and went about business as usual. Studies, classes, job applications, team meetings, repeat. However, for some reason I was not feeling so great. I decided to take the weekend off and spend the time with my family, for the first time in weeks. I was not reading the news or thinking about interviews and schoolwork. What a great weekend it was — full of walks in the mountains, sports, board games, and books.
Back to the weekly routine, I feel refreshed and recharged. What’s more, I am not heedlessly grinding through assignments, Google docs and cases. I have reshuffled my routine by modelling my day mostly around my family and sports. Everything else is scheduled around. Hence, since the coronavirus outbreak came to town, I have found a better balance for myself while also making more time for family and paradoxically, more time to talk to friends — an activity which I always seemed to be “too busy” for, back when the semester was still going at full speed and university was still associated with a physical location.
There also seems to be more time to do the things I whole-heartedly enjoy. For me sports always come first. Ever since I have been confined to the immediate surroundings of my neighbourhood, I have been able to go for a run every day, even going so far as to return to my sprinting days and practice the 100- and 200-metre dash at the near-by open-door stadium. Perhaps not by coincidence the weather has been sunny, allowing me to scour the town’s deserted running track as much as I want.
Being inside is not bad either. I have managed to read more than 50 pages of a book for the first time since my trip to Kenya in February. Currently I am jumping between John Grisham, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Piketty. It is a bizarre mix indeed, but at least it is one that I have chosen myself, not one required by an educational institution. You might find it perplexing, however, that my time spent on Netflix has declined dramatically since I’ve been confined to my home. Perhaps this is a result of my promise to myself to only devote time to movies that are truly worth it (shout-out to Jojo Rabbit, shout-out to Manchester-by-the-Sea, and a couple of other great films I recently discovered).
Of course, I read the important news about the epidemic, I take the recommended measures, and I think quite a lot about the present and the future. Our lives will change, it is inevitable — some slightly, others quite severely. For now, while Instagram is one way to go through quarantine (or social distancing) for many, I see also other ways in which we can spend our time, especially as young, capable people.
Trust me, your assignments, interviews, papers, and online exams will not slip away, don’t worry. But if this virus has achieved anything thus far, it has definitely managed to put various aspects of our lives into perspective. I hope that you have also discovered this new angle and that you have managed to see that we have an opportunity: to spend more time with our family, roommates, close friends. We also have a chance to take up a new language, take numerous online courses, learn how to code, read those couple of books we never had time for, brush up on our rusty musical instrument skills, or whatever else we might desire.
No matter the changes the corona crisis brings along, let’s turn them into positive changes, starting with our own little worlds. And maybe then, after this has all passed, we can “wake up” to an all-around better place, surrounded with better people.
For now, though, I think you have had enough spirituality. Time for us to get back to posting childhood pictures from 20 years ago or juggling with one of the life-saving toilet paper rolls lying around the house. Stay safe 🙏🏼
Yours truly,
Glad You Called
