I have read that one of the beneficiaries of the current Corona "crisis" is the earth itself, and I have read articles about animals returning to the streets in Australia, skies being bluer and reports that pollution levels have already fallen in some parts of the world.
My own experiences of lockdown suggests that roads are emptier and the air clearer but this may be wishful thinking or just imagination, but there may well be benefits that are obscure, more difficult to quantify. One such benefit may turn out to be learning to appreciate time itself, to live one day at a time, one hour at a time and to use that time - moment by moment. Vague planning might help. Getting up early, showering and generally making the self presentable and while under the shower the day can be planned, structured to include telephone calls or video meetings with friends and family, times to eat and to exercise, to read, write, go for a walk or a bike ride. Just thinking about these activities can be a reminder, if one is needed, that a day is short. So - in a nutshell, living for the day and forgetting about useless long-term planning may turn into something positive; after all, when was the last time we were gifted with this opportunity to appreciate each minute and each hour and to stop thinking about some vague date in the future when lockdown is lifted.
If we didn't know it before, life at home with the whole family can be stressful. In order to combat this, I have set a time for myself to exercise, and exercising with my 14-year-old can be competitive but fun. How many push-ups can you do, dad? I bet I can do wall-sits for longer than your old pins.
And you talk together, laugh together and such activities may help us get to appreciate family members in a real way - a way that, in the old world, was probably planned into a 10-minutes-free period at the fag-end of a working day.
Before lockdown, I heard many people saying that they wished they had more time to be with their families, to do things they had always wanted to do. Well, now the opportunity is under our noses. Instead of fretting over work not done, checking inboxes or missed calls, poems may be read or even written. Maybe you can try your hand at that short story you always wanted to write.
And what about writing a diary about this time locked up in your own home, your thoughts and feelings; and these pages might be something to look back on when times get better and work resumes and rules out these reflections. A novel, the novel we apparently all have inside us, could even be started and what a topic to write about! Life in the time of Corona - the updated version of The Plague by Albert Camus. This famous novel begins one day when Rieux, a doctor living in the Algerian city of Oran, finds a dead rat on his doorstep. Soon, he is seeing rats, both alive and dead, everywhere, and horror of horrors, local people begin dying of the plague and the local authorities order everyone to stay home. Sound familiar?
The rest of The Plague deals with how a variety of individuals respond to the situation. My favourite character is the inspiring and aspiring novelist, Grand. Although I read this book 50 years ago for A-level French, I somehow never forgot Grand's inability to move beyond the opening line of the book that he is writing. The line, only a rough draft, reads: “One fine morning in the month of May an elegant young horsewoman might have been seen riding a handsome sorrel mare along the flowery avenues of the Bois de Boulogne.” No, I have never forgotten poor Grand. My guess is that most writers will also sympathise with his difficulty in progressing beyond the first line. But, most importantly, we now have the time to write the novel that apparently lives inside us all; so grab the moment and put pen to paper and start that novel now, but do, at least, try to finish the first line of the first chapter before normal life resumes! You may never get a second chance.
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