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Searching for Joy in a Pandemic
Knowing life is uncertain, I remind myself to look up and be here while I can
It has been 563 days since the world shut down. Even longer since the first murmurs of a pandemic, a deadly disease, a life-altering global event pierced our consciousness. And here we are, still dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus and Covid-19. I remember when we all thought it would be gone in a matter of weeks. We were all willing to sacrifice for a short time. But when it became clear this disease was going to hang around a while people got testy. A year and a half later the pandemic is still wreaking havoc and we are still waiting for things to return to “normal.”
I experienced the most severe anxiety of my life last year and into the first of this year. I know a lot of people did. The solid ground we thought we were standing on fell out from under us and we all went into a freefall. Suddenly, life didn’t seem to make sense any more. We couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. Our plans were cancelled and we couldn’t very well make new ones. Each time we did, the goal posts got moved further down the field. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the future in terms like “the new normal.” Humans like predictability and telling ourselves there would be a “normal” again, even if it was a different normal, brought some…
