We’d just come back to reality after having a few days off together as a family when the whole lockdown/isolation/stay-at-home order was imposed. Now, when I say ‘reality’ I actually mean that it became a whole new level of strange, weird and crazy. I’m sure you know what I mean. I don’t think there is a person in this entire world who remains unaffected by what is going on at the moment.

These are the days future generations will look back on and study. They will remember the oddities that occurred. These months will forever be marked as the attack of the Corona Virus (COVID-19). It has hit the world like a massive tonne of bricks, or perhaps we can liken it to a world sized meteor. In the most unprecedented way, our way of life has changed, been curbed, pinned down, narrowed, and even stopped to the point where isolation has become the norm.

Never before have we seen such drastic actions being taken to curb the spread of such a vicious and highly contagious virus. And, honestly, we probably may never get back to “normal” again. Such is the effect this virus is having and continues to have on us all.

Let me give you a little glimpse of my life right now, you know, for posterity purposes. I’m sure yours looks very similar…

Because we just had school holidays, these are the days of long sleep-ins, late mornings and breakfast at lunchtime for my teen aged children. Of late nights to bed and endless hours of TV viewing or device playing. When I decide to play “Mum”, the devices are put away, the TV goes off and then we all need to use our actual brains to create, explore, imagine, and learn.

These are the days of a clean house – because “I’m bored” gets punished with chores; of so much baking and cooking experimentation in the kitchen that the pantry is heaving, the freezer is full and our stomachs can’t take anymore; of slow-cooked meals that make the entire house smell divine; of finally catching up on the washing and ironing and not having a new pile of ironing waiting for us the next day – because we aren’t wearing our pressed shirts anyway.

These are the days where we see grand cathedrals and sprawling towns built out of lego’s that were once packed away in the back of a cupboard; where board games are played relentlessly; where colouring in is on for young and old alike; where books are read for endless hours; where crosswords and word-finds are the latest ‘in’ thing to do.

Then back to school, which is now our dining room table, loaded with books and devices, headphones and stuff – more rubbish and bits and pieces that it has ever seen in it’s life, piled high and spread out. Dinners are eaten in front of the TV, because there’s no room at the table and it’s just not worth cleaning up to do it all over again the next day.

Petrol is at a ten year low – under 80 cents per litre at my local service station, yet no one is travelling, so a full tank is lasting over a week; the streets are quiet, with significantly fewer cars on the roads, but more people are venturing out for dusk walks than I’ve ever seen before. Our local park’s play-ground equipment has been roped off, and picnic tables and park benches are also no-go zones.

Restaurants and cafes are closed for in-house dining, with take-away as the only option. Gyms are closed; hair-dressing appointments are reduced to 30 minute sessions; doctors appointments are over the phone; and all non-essential businesses are closed; with many office-workers working from home. Sports have been cancelled across the board; theaters and cinemas are closed.

Church services are online; meetings are all done over zoom; the ‘no public gatherings order’ has caused many functions for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and funerals to be cancelled; having friends over for dinner has taken on a whole new meaning – it looks like two entirely separate houses, with two meals spread out on our respective tables, and computers and devices placed around the room and all tuned in to the same zoom meeting. This was what our annual Easter feast with our besties looked like anyway.

State borders have been closed, with all non-essential travelling being vetoed; interstate flights have been significantly reduced and international flights are virtually non-existent. Many people have had to cancel their holiday and travel plans. Lots of people have lost their jobs, with many businesses having been effected to the point where they have to close down, yet, other businesses are booming and almost unable to keep up with new demand.

Physical touch with anyone other than your immediate family that live in your house, is an absolute no-go zone; and personal space boundaries are an absolute must, to the point where, x marks the spot on the ground where you are to stand. It must be at least 1.5 metres away from any other person. Face masks are also a common sight, with at least every tenth person I see wearing one. Some people take it to the extreme and fully cover, from head to toe in outfits that fall just shy of hazmat suits, and oh the memes that have graced the internet about these are worthy of gigantic belly laughs – but each to their own.

Personal hygiene is promoted to the extreme, with every single place you go offering, no demanding, that you use their offered sanitiser on your hands before you enter. Toilet paper flew off the shelves and was in very short supply for many weeks, but now we are starting to see the stocks slowly replenishing. People were panic buying the basics and everyone I know tried some cooking and baking experimentation. A new craze was freshly home-made bread photos and videos popping up all over social media, and it was really hard to obtain any yeast from the supermarket, unless you knew when the latest shipment arrived.

There are so many more things that have changed that I haven’t mentioned here, but all in all, I have found that most people act/react strangely when life as we know it changes so suddenly and so dramatically. To be forced into isolation is an unknown for most of us.

I personally am missing being able to hug my closest friends – which is interesting because I never really considered myself much of a ‘hugger’ before; oh, and the coffee catch-ups that were a regular point of connection, how my entire being is lamenting them – they were seriously my life source.

I have discovered that even though I am very much a strong introvert, I still need and highly value personal connection. I’ve also discovered that it is okay in this season to grieve the things that we are missing. And while we are in lament, let us also look forward to what the future might look like. What might we spend more effort and energy on in the new season? Do our priorities need some readjustment or realigning? Are there things that deserve more of our time (or less of our time) than we gave them before?

We can come through this season of sequestering stronger and more intentional about the things that really matter, if we take the time now to reassess and reflect on what life looked like before, and think about how we would like it to look in the future. Re-calibrate now, while you can. Check your routines and schedules, look over your budgets and plans, dream and imagine what the new you and your new life could look like when we are allowed to live out loud again, and then set it in to motion and make it happen.

See this time as a gift, to reconnect in a different way, to reorganise, to recharge and relax, and then be ready to flourish into all that you were created to be. Will you do that. my friend? Will you let these odd times be the mark, the stake in the ground that you can look back on as a turning point to a future filled with promise and opportunities, and see the good come out of this time?

I know that I will. Let these odd times be a mark in history that clearly defines a better future, with better choices and a better me.