8 minute read
LIFE LOCKED DOWN
Covid, lengthy lockdowns and getting through the pandemic stronger and wiser.
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Words By Alana Huehn | October 13 2021
As I write this, I’m currently sitting in my fourth lockdown since the pandemic began. Another lengthy lockdown that doesn’t look like it’s going to end soon. It’s 2021 and Covid-19 has changed the world in very different ways for many different people. Every single one of us has our own story of how we’re surviving the pandemic and if you really think about it, surviving is something over 5 million people globally so far haven’t been able to do. The number of lives lost is immense and going up every day. The lucky ones of us who have stayed Covid free or have recovered may be privileged with each breath we take and smile we can muster, but that doesn’t make our stories any less relevant, heart breaking or just damn hard.
When Covid first went global, I was a foreigner living in Israel with my fiancé and had just received my partner visa. Those early days of the first lockdown, we’d say to each other on our daily walks, “imagine the day, when we tell our grandchildren of the time when everyone was walking around in face masks”. Hopeful that it would end and life would return to normal soonish, we rode the wave together. Now that initial wave feels like we boarded the ship in The Perfect Storm, except George Clooney isn’t there and thankfully neither is Nespresso.
Fortunately, Israel was the fastest country in the world to roll out Covid vaccines to its population, so when our time came up to get it, having the jab was the obvious right choice. Of course, there were uncertainties upon Covid uncertainties, but our decision to get the vaccine came down to educating ourselves on the scientific evidence. Sure, mRNA technology may be all shiny and new, but the result is that it gave our bodies a guidebook on how to combat Covid, to prevent us from getting really sick, being hospitalised or worse. Moreover, I feel that it would be irresponsible for me to not do what is in my power to do, to protect those around me from getting Covid. As children, most people were vaccinated so we didn’t get illnesses that generations before us became sick and died from. Now, this is our time to step up to the plate. It’s a necessary step forward for the world at this current time. So far, our vaccine has kept up its end of the bargain, even when in high exposure places. More importantly it has already saved millions of lives around the world.
Long story short, six months into the pandemic, we decided to move across the globeand spent a further six months getting my fiancé a visa and exemption to come to my hometown of Sydney, Australia. After jumping through so much red tape, preparing a lengthy dossier to prove our relationship, three cancelled flights and a two week stay in hotel quarantine being watched over by the police and army guard, we made it to the land down under. After that, we enjoyed a few weeks of an alternate existence where life was “normal” and it seemed like the realities of Covid faced by the rest of the world didn’t exist in Australia. Fast forward to the present, Covid’s Delta mutation exploded in our state and over the course of a few weeks, the whole of NSW was locked down. Now we are all barred up in our houses, currently exploring the walls or whatever is within a 5km distance with face masks on. Grateful to be here, but you know that saying about life, it never works out how you picture it to be.
From afar, Australia seemed to manage the pandemic well in the beginning. They had low contraction rates and overall deaths stood at below 1000 until this last surge. A tiny amount compared to the mortality devastation faced by the rest of the world. “Shut the borders!”, they said. The dark underbelly of Australia’s Covid strategy has reared itself now through clear division of the population, mass protests, anti-vax and anti-minority rhetoric, and unnecessarily long and restrictive lockdowns that go beyond health orders. Each state and territory have been operating as their own little country, opening and shutting their borders as they please. Correspondingly, Australia has abused the human rights of their own citizens living overseas who’ve lost their ability to return to their country of origin. Tactlessly, the Australian government would prefer to let people in who have money or influence because they “contribute to the economy”. I’ve tried buying plane tickets on “government repatriation flights”. The cheapest I found was $8,000 per ticket, which sold out completely not long after. Not everyone has the financial ability, support of family or time to wait to return “home”. For my nearest and dearest, I am forever grateful of their support during this time.
Australia’s isolation as an island may have helped it weather the storm in their first wave of the pandemic but keeping the borders closed and as many people indoors as possible is not sustainable. If anything, it has only given people a false sense of security that has left many unprepared for “the new normal” – what living with the pandemic is really like. The slow acquisition and roll out of vaccines, including the disproportionate misinformation made public via the media of the safety of highly effective vaccines, means that Australia has a lot to catch up on. Covid is not something that we can opt out of. There is no choice in that and perhaps in that aspect, we really are “all in this together”.
Look, lockdown is lockdown. I understand that it’s there to keep us safe, deemed necessary by our governmental guardians. Honestly, it’s hard full stop. It’s lonely, it’s triggering and it’s mentally and physically exhausting. My mind is tellin’ me “optimise, optimise, optimise” but my body, my body is telling me “rest”! Anything and everything are bound to come up at any moment. Questions like, will this ever be over and when can we move on with our lives? Do I reach out and connect with others or can I just exist with my other half and move to the middle of nowhere, live off the grid and begin a vegetable garden, because who needs other people anyway? Exhibit above the monkey mind, isolation’s conjoined twin. A way of dealing with all of this is not with “good vibes only”. Can we let go of that toxic positivity? Like, I have questions that need answers! When will I make a stable income and make a permanent home? When is a good time for us to have a baby? When can we meet our family and friends again? Will we ever be in large groups of people again? As people, we need to feel things, not numb them or put them away for a rainy day. We don’t have to wrap things in a pretty box and call it a gift. It’s the present, not a present.
The key to navigating this rollercoaster glass case of emotions pandemic lockdown is to accept it. Accept everything about it. About others, about the rules and accept that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Ask yourself, what can I control here? Hmm… Yep, not much at all, except for myself. All I can say is be real with the spectrum of emotions you’re feeling.
I’m not going to lie, being mentally ok is a daily battle. All my emotions are heightened at the moment and I know I’m not the only one feeling this. Mental health issues are the parallel undercurrent of the pandemic. For what it’s worth, whatever the struggle, know that there is great strength in asking for help. Believe me, if you need it ask, your future self will thank you for it.
On the flip side, the pandemic has had a way of revealing what is really important in life, the appreciation felt for the ones you love and of life’s simple gifts.How great is feeling the sun on your face, listening to music and feeling a hug? How good are long walks on the beach, holding hands at sunset? I’m all for the cliché right now. I don’t care where I am or what I’m doing as long as my love is right there beside me, I am set in this life. The pandemic has been a motivating force of greater ownership of my life, to not get weighed down by the weeds and to enjoy it as best as I can given the circumstances. I’m coming to terms with getting older, letting go of rigid career/success goals and have found new and unforeseen hobbies. Like, I’m loving gardening and I don’t care who knows about it, which is exactly how it should be. Let’s move past the to-do list and distractions of life, by living out what makes us happy now.
I’m certainly not here to tell you what to do or how best to get through a lockdown. This is a collective and ongoing pause for the world, including your own world. At the very least, what you know for sure is that you are not the only one going through this. Again, literally everyone is or has gone through this in some form. Take the positive, the negative and everything in between. Maybe spend some time thinking about what’s important to you and make sure your energy is focused on making your life aligned with that. Or maybe don’t. Just be and do what works for you. In the words of Jerry Springer, which seem utterly perfect right now, “take care of yourselves, and each other”. ■
Alana Huehn
