The routine that you can no longer have is also a painful loss. Looking closely at these sufferings is part of the process of overcoming.
At midnight on January 1, we might even imagine that we had a challenging year ahead of us, but nothing prepared us for 2020.
It is so much pain wherever we look that sometimes we are ashamed to admit our own sadness, especially if we are not among those who have become unemployed, have seen their earnings fall drastically or, worse, have lost loved ones to Covid- 19.
Compared to the more painful experiences that arise around us, we feel that acknowledging our own pain is even disrespectful to these people. “It could be much worse”, we think and we are convinced that we cannot complain. Admitting your own pain does not delegitimize the other's.
At this point, few of us are in social isolation, some practice detachment with occasional interactions with the outside world and others, by necessity or option, maintain their almost normal activities. But the fact is that no one would call the moment in which we live normal.
If I ask you how you feel about this period, I don't doubt you will tell me that you hate it. Who knows, sometimes you might even like it; I have heard reports of some introverts who are even embarrassed about this, but say they feel really good in the loneliness imposed by the pandemic. There must be those days when you just want to be under the covers and others when you can wake up with energy and get a little closer to your ideal self at the beginning of your quarantine.
The experiences of the pandemic, even those of failure, have been shared and unite us in a sense of belonging. Sometimes we almost forget that, in the end, we are separated from many loved ones, bewildered by the news, and often feeling deeply powerless.
In the midst of that, we are constantly being invited to improve and not let sadness take over. Of course, small adjustments to the routine to improve life can be good and even very important. But, before that, how about you let yourself be a little sad?
Our lifestyle was built around the coexistence of which we are being deprived. Of course, they are losses less than the life of a loved one, there is no doubt. But they also cause suffering, they weaken us. In this case, we are affected by a subtle and permanent pain that, many times, is not even recognized or verbalized.
The pandemic has shaken everyone's life and may be causing terrible emotional itchiness, which you may not have even noticed.
As I always say at home: my dream of this 2020 is for everything to return to normal, including that we get out of the political and economic disaster in my country Venezuela.
