Thoughts on living in a time marked by the Coronavirus pandemic

First and foremost, I hope this finds all of you well, safe, and healthy. I realize that this is my second consecutive post on Coronavirus (and won’t be my last) but please bear with me. I promise I’ll post something more uplifting, soon.

To be honest, I didn’t quite know what to write about in today’s post. It took me several drafts, based on various ideas, before finally deciding to share a few personal thoughts and observations on the Coronavirus pandemic. So, here it goes:

I believe that this Coronavirus pandemic has put things into perspective for many of us in more ways than one. While threatening our health and life, it has given Mother Nature a (needed?) break from us–perhaps you’ve noticed the headlines about the water in Venice canals becoming clear again, and so on. COVID-19 has also forced some of us to pause and rethink our purpose, goals, and life, itself. It has helped many of us reconsider what’s truly important in life, what we’ve accomplished so far, and where we want to go from here. The virus reminded us of our dreams and gave us the courage to make the necessary changes to resume our journeys towards those dreams–changes that, until now, we were too unsure of or hesitant to act on.

Coronavirus has put things into perspective for me, personally. It reminded me of some of my own goals and of how much, for various reasons, I’ve veered away from my journey toward those goals. I’m more aware, now, of a kind of clear-mindedness that I haven’t experienced in a long time. Yes, I’m exhausted (mostly mentally), worrying about my elderly loved ones and about stuff I can do little, if anything, about, yet, that’s not an unusual feeling, especially these days. But I believe that, in a strange way, this virus has reset the way I look at life…at my own life. In a way, it has re-prioritized my to-do list, on a daily basis and in general. It feels liberating to finally reclaim control over my goals. I hope to be able to remember that feeling and stay focused on those goals down the road, when this virus won’t be a threat anymore, when, hopefully, life will slowly begin to return to some kind of normal.

I hope you all keep yourselves busy, creative, and most importantly, healthy.

As always, thanks for stopping by,

Alina Oswald