Post COVID – what now?

Back in mid-March I had symptoms of a sore throat, slight cough, temperature and then the rest just unravelled into what looked like COVID-19. Within 24 hours my youngest son was ill, and two days later so way my wife. There was no testing outside of hospitals then so we have no way of knowing for certain that this was the virus. I took to my bed for two days, the memory of those first few days is now hazy as I realise that I was more ill than I thought I was. It may not have been the virus, but if it wasn’t there’s another really nasty thing lurking out there. I have never felt so ill, and the recovery has been so slow.

Here we are then nearly 3 months later and I am just finding myself again. An extended period of quarantine and the lockdown has created a very different life. It has been awful for so many people. And there is no doubt that it is certainly a mix of good and bad. But as someone said (can’t remember who), one person’s lockdown is another person’s retreat. How we approach this and what our mind makes of it affects what we look for. Are we looking for everything that we miss, or are we looking for the stillness, the return of nature to cities, cleaner air, slowing down and less crazy early starts?

So many people have lost their lives. The handling of the crisis by the UK government has been shambolic and a disgrace. Some things will never be the same again. At times I feel a mixture of terrible sadness and wrathful anger.

I am grateful that I am recovered and functioning again, and am grateful to June for the support she gave me when I was at my most ill, and to those around us who brought and sent food to our door. It’s still a weird time, and yes we do miss popping into a bar for a quick pint on the way back home. But this crisis has really brought into sharp focus the impermanence of everything. Nothing is fixed and certain. That realisation has been hard for many of us, but it’s an important awakening. Time is limited, everything is constantly changing. Better get on with the things that matter before it is too late.