WHEN ALL THIS IS OVER!...WHEN ALL THIS PASSES!...WHEN WE RETURN TO NORMALITY!... NOTHING WILL BE LIKE BEFORE?.... These are some of the recurring expressions that we have all made during the quarantine or mandatory self-isolation.
In this blog I will talk about my experience during this unfortunate event, but I will not write/talk about the virus; although we know that this will be with us indefinitely.
“Crises are sometimes necessary for progress,” Einstein quoted." What would the famous stoic Marcus Aurelius have taught us in this turmoil?
Well, the most awaited day of phase #3 arrived, as expected by many with increased tensions, but looking around we realize that the quarantine confirms the fact that we live in a very fragile world. We saw a number of beloved family members pass away. The divorce rate increased, because many couples, who were already alienated from each other and were keeping themselves busy with their daily activities, were suddenly forced to be together under one roof for an indefinite period of time. and because they have been We became extremely anxious and scared of what was coming, and we felt the sadness of our children for not being able to go out.
But on the positive side... The circumstances revealed to us who we are, we rediscovered our inner peace, we took advantage of the time to get to know ourselves better, we learned new ways to be ourselves and others found their shadows. We appreciated the gift of spending time together with our family, we had the opportunity to make new virtual friends and to be able to help many behind the screen. We learned skills we didn't know we possessed and for an instant, we became more aware of the value and use of time.
And yes, self-isolation affected all of us immigrants in different ways, especially because most of us do not have our families by our side, and this caused us to treasure the beautiful memories we spent with our loved ones laughing, hugging, and sharing caresses. We cannot imagine the degree of confusion, the mixed feelings, the feeling of helplessness of many in the face of the threat of a virus. But on the other hand, we could also take advantage of listening to our favorite music, settling into an armchair to read those pending books, some prayed, others meditated and began to interpret the silence. We reinvented ourselves, and we showed the world that we can work from home because we live in a society where we have been valued by "doing" and where everyone must be productive in life.
But the best of all this is that we have proven that we are resilient people, it is just another proof that without leaving home we continue doing what we love, sharing our love. Nobody told us that one day we would miss a hug or a kiss and that it would mean a lot for us., But we learned to have absolute control of them, everything we leave today will be what we want to leave for the future.
For this, we must focus on situations that we can control and avoid worrying about those that we cannot so that we are less affected, let's not ask "Why did this or that happen?... instead, how are we going to solve it? Let's start being stoic or at least try to be one. And when we remember this pandemic, we also remember the good work we did as a team…
Translation Spanish-English: William Lin Kuang