We are in quarantine. It’s weird.
As news of the corona-virus pandemic spread, my initial response of fear changed into deep curiosity. I began to wonder what it would really be like if we were all told to stay home. And then we were.
It’s now only been several days that we have been socially isolated. The typical daily interactions with our neighbors is no longer a part of our day. As I type this, the kids are playing baseball in our backyard while I hear our little neighbor two doors down singing in her backyard. Normally, we would give her a yell to come over. This is weird. Hauntingly weird.
I am a huge believer that there is a purpose behind everything. But now I feel strongly that “the purpose” is defined by how we live through the event. I mulled over this the other day while I painted our fence. (I am doing all of those household things I have been itching to do.)
I suddenly remembered something I heard a while ago (I think it was on a documentary) that sat with me. The man said “I have never walked among so many living dead.” When I heard that, I remember I just sat back in awe. It is the absolute truth.
Think about it. How many times you are standing alongside someone who is glued to their phone? People pass each other all day long and don’t even SEE each other. They are either staring at their phone or completely glazed over, thinking of the busy things in their lives. It’s truly robotic-like.
We have lost the ability to see the absolute beauty and abundance of life. With our crazy packed schedules that have sadly become the norm, we focus only on “What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?” We mindlessly walk into a grocery store and grab fresh produce, only to roll our eyes when we see we see the line at checkout. We stopped seeing how beautiful it is to have access to the entire carton of perfectly fresh berries we are holding in our hand.
This is our WAKE UP CALL. This is the universe taking us by our shoulders and giving us the message we all need. We will return to “normal life” soon. But some of us will have taken this experience and we will be changed. Gratitude for simple things will become easy. Gratitude makes us happy. And at the end of the day, the only thing every single human being wants is to be happy.
