Revolution reborn post pandemic

This is a letter to whoever is reading this. It is the year 2025

I am a young girl who is living with a happy thriving family. Then came the Pandemic in March 2020 which completely disrupted our cheerful lives. At the start, while everyone was rushing to stock up on toilet paper and canned items for the lockdown, we woke up the next morning and had breakfast with whatever we had in the house. We seemed calm but inside we were all stunned. My mom and dad tried to be as cheerful as possible and kept talking about positive outcome about how I will be attending school from home on online platforms with my teachers, I did not feel that was positive at all. I knew why this was positive from my mom’s perspective though. Guess who is going to be helping around with the chores. That is right .Me.

My father was off to work so we tried being optimistic about the day and sent him off with smiles that would last him miles. We are now in the Year 2025; the pandemic situation has ended. Everyone is in the process of normalizing themselves in society. The vaccine has been provided to everyone at various public zones in 2024. Everyone's beginning to resurface as if they were rabbits coming out of their burrows, slowly but surely. As I stepped out of my house, the sun shone into to my eyes and I felt a slight sting. I shuffled in my bag to look for my sunglasses. I finally found them and put them on much relieved for the shade. There was an air of suspense that still floated around me clenching my mind and body making me extra cautious. My mind had gone into hyperconscious mode where I suddenly felt that suddenly at any moment a group of medical officials would stop me for a PCR test. The ear-bud like contraption would be stuck up my nose .This would be pushed in and pulled out hurriedly without the medical official being concerned about my comfort. The official is simply running me through the queue to finish off our area’s participants and moving onto the next area as part of the system without feeling and understanding. When will we be allowed to feel for each other again? I felt so icky standing there afterwards as I could not find the nearest hand sanitization point. They used to Have one at every store, at every grocery and at every bus card charging machine. I rushed to the nearest grocery and brought myself a musk scented sanitizer.

My love language as a person is through physical touch as high fives, handshakes, hugs, and side bumps. But now that myself and others are still so paranoid about the pandemic, they are still scared to shake hands and even if I do impulsively, I go in the washroom and sanitize my hands before eating with my friends at our local McDonalds. In addition to this, I have a huge box of baby wipes in my bag that I use incase of emergencies. Before all this started me and my friends used to go to the karaoke joint near out house with an all you can eat buffet and karaoke after. Used to be so much fun now they are mostly stuck at home and so am I. The karaoke joint has still not allowed groups into the karaoke rooms as if they are still scared that the corona virus will nab them at any unsuspecting time and place. For a year now I was wishing that I could meet terminal patients at out local hospital and read them hopeful messages, poems texts from Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robins and many other motivational mentors in my life. I am still trying to get through to the hospital staff. As I began calling the hospital’s main head office to ask for permission, I stop myself midway considering what if I catch the corona? It is said since it was an airborne virus that is why we all wear masks. I still wearing my leopard print washable mask that I have been using since the since mid of 2023.As I head to the supermarket for my groceries, I see the roads are deserted, but as soon as I entered the supermarket it was jampacked with people. This filled me with dread, I was still not used to being with large crowds which was an active social measure to prevent the spread of Corona. I reversed my steps and opted for the grocery right under my building got the essentials bread, cheese, and milk for breakfast. I decided I will go for the rest later when I go to the mall with my family on the weekend. Major toll gates were erected at all highly visited localities. I thanked my lucky stars I do not drive otherwise I would have to pay 50 dollars per day. Job hunting nowadays so I can buy a small Vespa or an E-scooter for myself. Getting a job has become so hard because of the cost cutting that companies are doing to reduce their expenses. I have been in lockdown for so long that I have had no practical experience with business admin tasks. I ‘m worried about the stagnation that has become the norm in my life. Daily chores with my parents have taken up most of my time. At most, I might find an internship for business administration staff or for human resources staff. I do not know when my struggle will keel off. In the past, As an Introvert I never cared to speak to anyone before, but the sheer lack of communication has made me queasy. I’m in dire need of friendship and companionship I sometimes talk to the mannequins in clothing stores to stave off my loneliness. I want to be able to share my thoughts with friends to gain intellectual satisfaction and attain new facets of understanding. I also want to know other’s perspectives and what epiphanies have been revealed to them in their lives. Communicating has become a difficult trial for me as everyone is now communicating through social media platform and you cannot feel their emotions cues and expressions. I do not feel an emotional connection when I receive texts on my phone. All this feels so static and robotic. I crave this but most people do not as they have become used to these platforms. I still find it difficult to shake out the pandemic culture as we all have gotten too used to it. My struggle to break through and rise through my rebellion is ongoing. I will continue to be reborn and blossom in this post pandemic age and will emerge successful .