Change: Be Openminded

Emilie Lauria

4 May 2020

Professor Freeman

English 110

How should we change the way we live going forward as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?

There are several words we can use to describe the outbreak of COVID- 19: tragic, severe, unfortunate, etc. the list goes on without an end. It’s hard for me to visualize how the world is going to react once quarantine is over and we begin to get our lives back on track. Will people still be skeptical, will people live freely with no regrets, truly the possibilities of imagining what our lives are going to be like for the next few months is endless. 

In my opinion, I do not think life is going to be completely back to normal. I believe most people are going to continue to be more skeptical and neurotic after being inside for a long time. However, in more of a medical aspect, I do believe that as a result from being inside for so long our immune systems have been weakened making us more susceptible to other illnesses such as common colds and so on. I think something we should change going forward, which I have been more uptight about doing, is being insistent on taking vitamins everyday. Although most people whine by complaining about their lack of service, I think if people are disciplined enough taking the right vitamins everyday will do wonders for our overall health. 

Leaning more towards the cleany side of things, which I thought more people would have already been keen on but I guess I was wrong, is making sure to be CLEAN! By this, I mean taking the time to wash your hands after using the restroom, wiping down countertops in your home, carrying around hand sanitizer, overall just have a sense of what it means to be proactively aware of germs (not in a severe germaphobe way though). By taking into consideration the cleanliness of others and yourself could make a difference in how disease and germs are passed on by you or contracting by someone else. Making the effort to wash your hands or wiping down a surface after use is important and the lack of does more damage than most think.

On a more personal note, I think we should be more appreciative of the lives we have and not take for granted our “normal” life. As we all have been writing in our blog posts, we all agree that we took for granted too many simple things thinking it was something we would have access to at any time. As we have been shown, that does not hold true. It’s even more important to realize life for the good things we already have instead of pushing to find better. I say this because I believe that if we move forward in finding better, the good will disappear, so let’s begin to appreciate more and desire less. It is never a bad thing to desire and want more but there comes a time where we must see ourselves for what we have already instead of impulsively wishing for better. We all have been too greedy and as said before, it is truly such a shame it took such a drastic event to show us our faults. 

Now to my quotes… I saved these for last, because I wanted you guys to appreciate them for what they say, not how they relate to my opinions. From one source, Forbes Magazine stated, “One day, when the numbers tell us it’s safe, we will leave our masks at home and return to the streets, revive the economy and re-establish our routines”(Dan, 2020).

I appreciated this quote, because of the certainty in his writing, this will end and we will get back to our life, hopefully deciding to live better and be better versions of ourselves after realizing time does not wait for anyone. The next quote is from Amnesty International stating, “this crisis has opened many people’s eyes to the fragility of other circumstances”(Griffiths, 2020) I found this quote hitting close to home, because now that all is said and done and we wish we could go back and prevent this better, we see the chain reaction of events and how everything is just about connected. From now on I hope to look broader on the spectrum on different but similar situations. The next quote I was intrigued by was from a site called The Atlantic saying, “Even a perfect response won’t end the pandemic.”(Yong, 2020) This quote was simple but deep, because it is completely true. No matter what we do, this situation will not just end, it is still going to be an upset just not as spoken about because most are “sick and tired” of being inside. Therefore, people are fed and are going to quit the quarantine protocol, but just because quarantine is up does not mean his whirlwind is over for good. My final source and quote is from a website called The Medical Futurist, this website did state an author, but the quote reads, “Many are working overtime and witness patient after patient succumb to the disease.” This stood out to me, because as noted in another blog post, my mom is a nurse on the front lines and from personal view, she is exhausted. The toll this has taken on her has been incredible due to stress, exhaustion, and even anxiety. The burnout of many healthcare workers and how this pandemic has affected them in the workplace is unsaid but for sure will be difficult to return to normal after the fact.

What do I hope for most after this craziness is over? I wish for stillness. I wish for people to sit still for a moment and learn to be content with what is rather than what could be. Stillness is going to be important because since March, we have been in a state of constant motions and thinking of what is to come next. From here on out, I think the world should change their point of views of how life “should” and work on what is.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/04/01/after-thepandemic/#3c07d08965ba

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/03/choices-after-coronavirus-pandemic/

https://medicalfuturist.com/life-after-covid-19-what-will-change/