Living in a new reality
Three months ago, when the champagne cork plopped from the bottle and sparkling bubbles filled my glass, the whole world celebrated New Year’s eve. Happy and excited I sent my family and friends all the best wishes for the year to come. The beginning of a new period, new plans, new expectations and most of all new travels…
China
Of course I had seen the news about what was going on in China around the end of December, but Wuhan was a place far from home so I did not bother too much. During Chinese New Year this changed. Millions of people planning to go home for the holidays were stopped because a deadly virus was roaming around. Chinese videos about what happened to the society over there, dominated the news and what I saw reminded me of a Hollywood disaster movie. But this time it was not a movie to watch from my comfortable bench but a horrible scenario that had become reality.
Social life
And now three months later, Corona has reached Europe. Two and a half weeks ago, the government ordered us to stay indoors as much as possible. They call it social quarantine. Schools and universities are closed and most offices too. The whole social world has come to a stand. Libraries, restaurants, cinemas, sport clubs, you name it…it all closed for now. We also have to keep a safe distance of 1.5 meters when walking around in public areas like a supermarket. Dentists and doctors are only reachable for emergencies. It is all so weird.
Daily life
Each morning I wake up, the sunlight enters my bedroom, I open the curtains and see a bright blue sky. By lack of traffic the birds are singing louder than ever. No airplanes in the air. It is as quiet as a Sunday morning except it is Wednesday. No cars in the street, no teenagers on their way to school. Life has become an indoor event and there is not much going on in the outside world right now. It feels like a bad dream but it’s the new reality.
As my brain still uses signals from the before-Corona-life, I have to adjust my thoughts all the time. It is confusing as the world looks alright but obviously it is not what it looks like anymore.
