To everyone worrying about COVID-19 right now, here is just one thing I want to say.
Waves come but they also go…. So hold on.
I’m writing this from New Delhi, India. In the middle of the pandemic. Where a terrifying wave is sweeping the nation. A fear and pain that we are all feeling right now no matter where you are reading this from. It’s the same fear. It’s the same anxiety. We are all on the same boat. I have been thinking of this tumultuous situation all week (I say this as if I wasn’t already thinking of this for the past year. I was.)
I have been thinking about this every waking minute. I’m too afraid to turn on the news because I’m shaking watching the pain and fear that has contaminated our world.
I sit here, trying to hold back tears because this is beyond anything we can fathom. Every time I watch the news I go into an existential crisis. Because in this pain all I see is myself and those who I love. Just like you.
The people this planet has lost in this year alone and of course last year as well- I keep thinking that these people are all just like me with dreams, families, hopes, favourite movies… Their life is no less important than mine or yours. They won’t be forgotten. And I pray that they rest in peace.
I know there isn’t much I can do. I can’t change this I can’t bring them back. But I can stay safe. So I help myself and I focus on the responsibility that I have to take care of myself and as a result those around me. And I hope everyone in the world knows that, for now, this is enough. Just staying safe and wearing a mask. Taking precautions.
Fear isn’t going to stop this but time will.
I understand that everyone doesn’t have the privilege to stay at home and that people have misplaced their lives, their jobs, their sanity too. I am deeply upset and saddened by this. But all I can do is take care of myself and my family. All any of us can do is take care of ourselves and each other.
We have one responsibility to keep ourselves safe. And we can do it.
Here is a message of hope:
We may feel right now that this is the end, but it is not. We share this experience and pain with everyone in history who has also been swept and overwhelmed by the uncertainty and disaster of pandemics and epidemics. Be it influenza, black death, bubonic plague …..
the thing these malicious forces have in common is that just like a wave of the ocean they passed and this wave will too. We share this fear with people who have lived through this- time and time again over the course of history. For now please find some solace in the fact that, that is what waves do- they come and they go. They do go.
My heart goes out to everyone in my country and in my world who have lost loved ones this year. I’m truly saddened by this loss just like I’m sure you are too.
As Emily Dickinson said Hope is a thing with feathers.
I have hope and I hope you do too. So please stay safe, wear a mask, take care of yourself .I hope you find one thing about today that wasn’t so bad. You are not alone.
And if the bare minimum you can do today is to look after yourself and stay safe then you have done something great today.
I send you lots of love wherever you are.
Thanks for reading.
-Anshudha