As we all know, right at this moment in time we are all having to isolate ourselves because of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is why I’d like to touch upon few things of course. Firstly, my experience with having to stay isolated has been tough to say the least. As much as I am an introvert with the love of staying home in bed and doing nothing, my life has been full of volunteering and being out there in the community and travelling to places and meetings, and now this is all done from the comfort of my home in the digital world. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, I don’t have to move and everything is done with few clicks and phone calls -which just reminds me of what was happening in WALL-E- but that still doesn’t change fact that I lack the human face-to-face interaction. As someone who has suffered from mental health problems most of my life, and has on multiple occasions, isolated myself from people as I was too insecure and too scared to face others, this situation just hits that part of me that remembers the pain that came along with it. However, this time it’s different because this time I am surrounded by amazing friends that I can chat to, call or even have Netflix Parties with. As hard is this situation might be to a lot of people, it’s important to always look on the bright side. A lot of people are frustrated at the fact that we have to deal with constant cancellations, and being honest, I shed a fair share of my own tears about different events being cancelled too, but that can’t stop us from believing there is hope in all of this. What really frustrates me at the moment is how people aren’t taking seriously what Nicola Sturgeon has been speaking out about, about the lock down, like I still see constantly many groups of people doing their own thing. How can people be so careless? It’s so frustrating to see people risking others lives because they can’t sit in their house for few weeks. That is so so stupid to me. The work NHS has putting into this and the key workers in shops etc, are so valuable and everyone should be grateful they are there to help us and risk their lives. The constant coverage in media about it, and the negativity, it’s just so stressful. My usual day to day thing consisted of me going to meetings, and meeting up with people and being OUTSIDE but now I need to sit in my room and do all these things on my mobile. I don’t believe world will come back to the old “normal” when this is over. I think this whole experience will teach us something, something that we didn’t care to see before. I mean look how much animals came out and how much clearer places are, because we are kinda the problem for all the pollution. People will realise how valuable those things are, or at least I hope. People will see that they shouldn’t spend their time on social media, because physical contact is so important and we really don’t realise how much. I know for a fact that after this is over, I will go and see all the people in my life that I couldn’t. I will give each and every person I know a big hug, because I miss seeing people in person.
Written by Wiktoria Orlicka
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