One day at a time during and after a time of Coronavirus

When news of Covid-19 first started filtering through, like a lot of people, I got very diligent about washing my hands properly. I worked out the opening lines to “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance (“When I was a young boy/ my father took me into the city/ to see a marching band.  /He said son when you grow up, will you be a saviour of the broken/ the beaten and the damned?”) was a perfect grab by which to time your 20 seconds of virus vanquishing.

Months along (how long has it been? It’s May, now? What day is it?) and with community transmission rates relatively low in Australia I’ll admit in the last week or so I’ve gotten a bit lax and forgotten to wash my hands after venturing outside. Not that I’m doing much – my social life involves a daily trip to Coles. If I want to mix things up a bit, I go to Woollies.  Party on.

Because I already live on my own, and started working from home last year, life in iso hasn’t been a huge adjustment. In fact, I have taken to it so easily, that I can no longer deny I am semi-reclusive as a lifestyle choice. In some ways, I’ve been preparing for this my whole adult life.

It has been interesting from an introvert’s perspective to see how extroverts have handled life in an introvert’s world.  Not well, judging by the crowds at the local shopping centre when the first restrictions were lifted.  There was a queue outside K-mart? But it was open the whole time!

I will admit though, that at the two month mark, even hermits like me are beginning to chafe against it. Even the internet is getting boring and it is supposed to be almost infinite. Mainly, I would like to go to the cinema again; watching movies at home just isn’t the same. It looks as though I’ll be waiting a while as cinemas will be one of the last things to re-open. ☹

One thing I’ll never be accused of is being a workaholic. I’m conscientious when I need to be but find it very easy to down tools. Being given no choice but to stay home, and not work was kind of a relief. But shout out to all the people who had to continue going to work and a big thank you to all. There is no doubt now about who society’s essential workers are.  If it was up to me, I would give them a raise (followed by a recommendation to review the pay deals for many highly paid non-essential workers ahem). And when it comes to work/life balance, bosses can no longer argue about why it is not possible for staff to work from home.

I’ve got an anxiety disorder so the panic that others might have grappled with is just another Tuesday for me. I wouldn’t recommend an anxiety disorder but if there is one upside, it is that those who fend off panic on the regular are past masters at dealing with a real crisis. We know the drill so we can (hopefully if we have had a good therapist) keep a cool head while others around us are losing theirs.  

Australia and New Zealand have been very lucky, partially due to geography, and partially due to good calls by Federal and State governments. The spread of the virus has been contained and the fatalities have been much lower than other countries. Other countries have not been so fortunate, and it must feel desolate in places where Covid-19 has cut a swathe through the population. The images of mass graves on New York City’s Hart Island or the military trucks lined up outside hospitals in Italy will be referenced for a long time. 

But the lockdown, for those not directly affected by the illness, has enforced a break from the usual busy-ness. All those extraneous pulls on our time just aren’t available, so we’re at home, pottering about (pottering about is my favourite thing to do), watching TV, baking bread and cakes (hot tip: when every thing is open again, weight loss and fitness will be the industry to boom), spending time with loved ones if they are in the household. Some will be basking in it and others will be pining for external stimuli to return. Both are correct but as re-opening will be gradual, perhaps we all should take time to remember what is was we needed most in lockdown and allow that to influence our future decisions.

But it is an ambivalent experience. Even if I’ve found lockdown well-suited to my nature, anticipation about what could be around the corner is under constraint (even if it turns out that what is around the corner is much the same as all the other corners). The lockdown* has curtailed all the what-ifs and possibilities, even if it is only temporary. Whether it is the idea that you may, on a whim, take a plane trip (or a cruise for those still keen on cruises (?)); or if you felt the planets were just about aligning for you and were getting ready to take the next big step.  Once restrictions are lifted, catching up on lost time and all attending possibilities will be the order of the day. Some things will be only in abeyance but others will never be regained. This is no small thing.

Even though this pandemic may have achieved a much needed re-set of our personal and societal priorities, and given us a glimpse of what a cleaner, less frenetic and better world could look like (minus rampant viruses), afterwards there is a lot of loss to contend with and this sense of loss is where the mental health programs need to focus. So many people will be mourning for different reasons, either for those who have gone or for lost potential. Things are going to get wistful for a few years, but no one should feel they are alone in that - it will be a collective emotion.

And as my anxiety-ridden self has been unknowingly well-prepared for an event like this, the one bit of wisdom I keep going back to, and have been offering anyone who asks is simply this - take one day at a time.

* which has been completely necessary and I can’t believe a) people were discussing whether we should save lives or the economy and b) that those same people were given the validity of a platform in the media. Who are you people? Please go away and think about what you said/did.