I’m pretty sure everyone and their dogs know what’s going on in the world with regards to coronavirus, or as I like to call it, the c-word. You literally can’t go 5 minutes without seeing it on the news, or hearing someone speak about it or leaving the house (to get the essentials) and seeing people with gloves and masks on. In all honesty, when this whole thing started, I didn’t really take it seriously. In my mind, it was an issue that was going on in China, which was far away and as long as it wasn’t in England, all was good. Well wasn’t I bloody wrong, because it wasn’t long before it made its way to Italy and then showed up on my doorstep (not literally, I hope) in London. Even when it became a problem in Italy, I still didn’t take it seriously, but again that’s due to my naivety as it was too much for my mind to fathom – this is what was going through my head at the time:
You’re telling me there’s a new virus, one that’s contagious. If you think you’ve got it or have symptoms, you should self-isolate for x-amount of days, but then at the same time, you may have it but not being showing symptoms for about 2 weeks anyway? So in the 2 week period, when you’re going about your daily life, you could be infecting others and have absolutely no clue – oh and to top it all off, there’s no cure?! Pardon!
So yes, I was naïve, maybe ignorant because I just couldn’t get my head around it. Don’t worry, the UK is basically in lockdown now and so I’m staying at home for the foreseeable. I’m going to be completely honest, when Bo Jo announced that all non-essential shops/businesses were to close, I sighed a bit of relief. Yes what’s going on is so awful that I literally cannot put it into words, but for once in my life, I tried to see the positives to all of this (as positive as you can get because I know people’s lives are at risk). I saw this as a time of respite, some time where I could finally have some time off, albeit more than I bargained for, but well deserved nonetheless as I haven’t had a week off work since July 2019, and for the past 5/6 months, I’ve worked 6-7 days a week. I also saw it as some time that I could finally get my shit together and get that CV updated, plan some content for my website etc. and just take 2 seconds to have a break. Although, I have already had a couple days where I’m bored out of my brain, but I just have to put things into perspective and remember that things could be worse and that there are key workers who only wish they could be at home like myself and the rest of us.
Though what is happening is a terrible thing, which has caused innumerous deaths and many heartbroken families, as with everything there is a silver lining. Firstly with the NHS finally receiving the acknowledgement they truly deserve. Lets face it, they’re an underappreciated, yet overworked and underpaid workforce. Without getting too political (because that’s not me) they’re under a government that wanted their services privatised which would have led to a loss of jobs and inaccessible healthcare for many. Now only because of this pandemic are people (some of which would have voted in a way that could have jeopardised the entire system) realizing just how much the NHS is needed.
For once, it doesn’t matter what your skin colour is, what your job is or how much or little money you have in the bank, its something that could happen to anybody, no one is invincible and no matter what contacts you have or how much you pay someone, we’re all in the same boat as. /Also the world is finally working together because there’s a virus out there that has affected most parts of the world. Like I said before, when this first started I wasn’t worried because it was so far away – which was very naïve of me, because realistically it’s only one flight away from coming to your country. That being said, I feel more connected to the world than ever before. Rather than fighting each other, for once, every country is working together to fight a common cause.
I’ll end with this by saying thank you to all the NHS workers, people working in supermarkets, the hospital cleaners and the teachers who still have to go into work. You are more appreciated now than ever before and more than you know, because without all the keyworkers, none of this would be possible!
The biggest loss in the end is if we come out of this unchanged.
