Bare necessities
Lockdown is being relieved slowly but steadily all around the world. The advice here in the Netherlands has shifted from ‘only go out when you really have to’ to ‘keep away from crowds and maintain 1,5 meters of distance’. Some of our freedom is coming back. But still, our lives are far from normal. Not that normal is the best achievable 😊, we wrote about that here.
However there are some things that we perceive as ‘normal’ and that are most definitely worth getting back after this. This is not about hosting big parties, about going shopping all the time, about clubbing or about being able to travel anywhere you want. The things worth getting back to are the apparently small things. Your own habits or culturally given customs that we have taken for granted.
Although technology allows us to communicate with each other almost limitlessly, we are now kept from proper contact in real life, from physical contact. No handshakes, no touching someones shoulder or arm when they’re having a hard time. We’re not able to look someone properly in the eyes whilst speaking to them. No hugs, no kisses. It’s a very estranging perception, isn’t it? For us it surely is.
In this unique situation it becomes ever so clear what being human is all about. It exposes exactly what the bare necessities are. What do we miss most now that we are homebound? Now that we work from home? Now that we can’t visit friends and family? Now that taking a walk is bound by rules? Now that new babies have to be admired trough windows? Now that …. you name it.
What do you miss most?
For me it’s missing real contact with my friends and family; being able to hug them, reading their eyes. Or just simply being around them. It’s hard maintaining distance especially now we’re able to visit again. The normalcy has been taken out of gatherings with friends and family. We’re wary all the time. But the worst thing is, or really was, having to deprive our children of physical contact with their grandparents. That cuts right through you.
Think about it, what was hardest for you during the time you spent mostly at home. Alone or with your spouse and/or kids? What were or are you really missing?