Scared. Down and outright scared some of us are. This COVID-19 pandemic brought about so many changes that have left all of us reeling.
Self-isolated, furloughed, quarantined or, worst of all, hospitalized with the virus. That is the fate, one way or another, of us all over the world. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, 844,000 people have died from this coronavirus.
The Last One – Spanish Flu 1918
COVID-19 is the first global pandemic the majority of us, except for the few who are 100+ years old today, have experienced.
What will life look like when this is all over? When will a reliable vaccine become available? How long before there is generalized immunity? To shed some light on this, I turned to articles and documents available online about the last global pandemic – The Spanish Flu.
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one-third of the planet’s population—and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans. The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. – History Channel
Less than a year into the current pandemic, there are just over 25 million people worldwide who have been infected. There are more than enough reasons to be scared as history seems to be repeating itself in many ways.
The Early Economic Impacts of COVID-19
We have started to see the disastrous impact a pandemic can have on an economy. All over the world, countries’ economies virtually collapsed or stalled.
The pandemic caused the largest global recession in history, with more than a third of the global population at the time being placed on lockdown
This is an excerpt from a report on Wikipedia that requires updating. However, it describes what the world faced when we were all finally alerted to COVID-19 and ran scared.
Supply shortages are expected to affect a number of sectors due to panic buying, increased usage of goods to fight the pandemic, and disruption to factories and logistics in mainland China. There have been instances of price gouging.[3] There have been widespread reports of shortages of pharmaceuticals,[4] with many areas seeing panic buying and consequent shortages of food and other essential grocery items.[5][6][7]
Global stock markets fell on 24 February 2020 due to a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases outside mainland China.[9][10] By 28 February 2020, stock markets worldwide saw their largest single-week declines since the 2008 financial crisis.[11][12][13] Global stock markets crashed in March 2020, with falls of several percent in the world’s major indices.
Scared And Worried About Everything
While some things improved in places around the world, we all can agree that everything has changed.
People are worried, and rightly so, about their employment, for their children’s education, whether they can hang onto their homes and even about their sex life.
- Will they have a job to return to and when?
- Is it safe for the children to go back to in-class school and when?
- Back rent or mortgage is owed, how will they pay it or will they be evicted or foreclosed upon?
- Single people are not sure how to meet people now and who can they have sex with?
Different Generation, Same Effect
These are just a few of the myriad of questions on people’s minds. We do not have any definitive answers. The pandemic 100+ years ago caused some of the same fears and people asked similar questions.
The flu took a heavy human toll, wiping out entire families and leaving countless widows and orphans in its wake. Funeral parlors were overwhelmed and bodies piled up. Many people had to dig graves for their own family members.
The flu was also detrimental to the economy. In the United States, businesses were forced to shut down because so many employees were sick. Basic services such as mail delivery and garbage collection were hindered due to flu-stricken workers.
In some places there weren’t enough farm workers to harvest crops. Even state and local health departments closed for business, hampering efforts to chronicle the spread of the 1918 flu and provide the public with answers about it.
Change We Must
Earlier this morning, Director and Treasurer of this Foundation, Gloria Rose-Saunders reminded us on our Facebook page that change has come. She wrote:
We ask for change in different ways, we pray, we speak to the Universe, we meditate, we are looking and asking for the next door to be opened. And it has now happened…Is it the way we expected it to be, definitely not!
None of us will escape the “uncalled” and “un-prayed” for changes that we all are confronted with. Some will find it easier to adjust, many businesses and individuals already have. Others will not have an easy time as their business model, their work-life and their personal life of necessity must change.
Business, Work And Sex – Necessary Changes
We shared with you possible business/work ideas that you might want to consider. Your work life, like mine, will need to reflect our new reality. Social distancing and wearing masks in public places are the rules in most countries now. Telecommuting is becoming more the norm that an option for many. Employers will have to implement new ways of monitoring their employers as in many instances they cannot be looking over their physical shoulders in an 8-hour shift.
As for sex, single people and those preferring multiple partners will have to ask for COVID-19 test results. It sounds funny but it is a serious thing. “Single and ready to mingle” might very well be a thing of the past.
Dating is a complicated and often clumsy dance even in the best of times. Add in mask-wearing directives, social distancing and fear of a highly contagious virus for which there is no cure, and you get… well, an awful lot of people going out and doing some version of it anyway. A survey conducted by Everlywell — a company that makes at-home health tests — found that nearly one in four Americans ages 20 to 31 broke quarantine to have sexual contact with someone in April, when stay-at-home orders were at their peak. New York Times
Scared But Success Is Still Possible
Running scared about the afterlife of this pandemic, it might seem that many odds are stacked against us. However, it is not all doom and gloom.
Literally, each of us has to motivate ourselves to get through this. We each have to create a new “happy” place, a different vision of success based on a post-pandemic world.
Defining success and finding what creates the deepest feelings of happiness is often – if not always – connected to maintaining a positive outlook on life. Here are my three suggestions to get you started.
- Want to be happy or happier? Think positive thoughts about your life right where you are in this moment, in the midst of this pandemic. Right there alone in your place where the rent or mortgage is due. Know that all the food you need now is in that bowl of macaroni and cheese!
- Want or need a job or to set up a side-gig that finally uses your gifts, talents and passion? Be thankful for the one you had before COVID-19 that taught you that this was not the place for you. Also, be grateful that this employer will give you a good reference. Recognize the skills you gained doing all those seemingly deadbeat jobs.
- Want a more life-enhancing relationship and genuine friends over one night stands and hookups? Well, first express your gratitude to those who helped you to know what you truly want. Also, thank this time that you had to be on lockdown to show you what you really needed in a mate. Thank the person who you might have been quarantined with for revealing who they really are. Write them letters. No need to mail (or email) them but the act of sharing a blessing with them will improve your sense of freedom to choose again.
Build A Better Boat
There was a time when my favourite way of describing this process was that I was building a new boat to sail away from what was no longer serving me.
It is time to build a better boat to sail INTO the new post-pandemic world.
The bottom line in boat building is first defining the shape, size, and type of your boat, then build it. Others will want to pitch in with their suggestions but then that would not be your boat to happiness and a ‘better’ you. This is a job for you and you alone. When you get it done, then you can offer rides to those who are good seamen and who want to go where you are sailing!
Send up pictures of your boat through our social media profiles – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Stop being scared and build a new boat! Happy sailing!
Peace and Love
