One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how I will feel when the lockdown ends. Will I be relieved? Will I be terrified? There is really no way of telling how I will feel, but here are some reflections and predictions from around the web.
It will not be overnight
The end will not come suddenly and you will not see your lockdown life flash before your eyes. In a way, we are already experiencing the end of lockdown.
The independent writes that social distancing measures will remain until the end of the year. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many have claimed to have found a cure (bleach? Hydroxychloroquine?), but for now, there is no vaccine, so keep that distance, mate. That’s not too bad actually, more people should learn to keep a safe distance, especially on the tube.
The Happn of Covid-19
Seems like there might be an app that will allow us to know who’s had the virus and other wonderful things like it. I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. It’s way worse than Happn – whoever has the app basically has access to my Covid-medical-history, like a really bad 1984-style nightmare.
Will the world move online?
I know for myself that I have always preferred to do my shopping, my learning, my working, my entertaining online – it’s easy, especially on those days where you really don’t feel like, you know, being outside.
Is this the future? More and more shops and businesses have moved online or enhanced their presence online to keep afloat. Some are now thriving. Online life is easy.
But I can’t help but miss the little interactions, the transition between home/work/shop, the excitement of trying out that new place down the road, and not from the comfort of my couch. God, I even miss putting on a dress to go outside.
All in this together
We’ve seen two of the biggest mass movements during this lockdown: one was the actual lockdown and the other the BLM movement.
At no other time did everyone on the planet know that they were exactly on the same boat. We were all at home, we were all bored, we were all going a bit crazy together.
This new heterogenous global perspective might have been a stepping stone for white people finally caring about the BLM movement and checking their privilege on a much larger scale (hello).
Back to the future
As we ease back into some kind of pre-covid ‘normality’ we must ask ourselves: what are we going back to?
I know for myself that I don’t want to mindlessly go back to the way things were before. I want to be intentional about what I allow back into my life and what I kiss goodbye forever.
Do I want to do crazy commutes? Do I want to take a job I know I am not going to enjoy? Do I want to return to hectic days of ‘what it’s six o’clock already?!’
What are you looking forward to? What are you leaving behind?