Routine

By now, many of us are beginning to develop new routines. It’s the routines that can keep you feeling safe; tiny little things that you can control distracting you from those you can’t. Writing a blog became part of my routine a while ago. I wrote it during the night or the early hours when I couldn’t sleep. Bizarrely, when the whole world went crazy, I started to sleep better. It was if my brain relaxed and said, “See, the world is randomly unsafe. Now everyone knows it.”  I felt that I couldn’t stop writing, though. To not write through this part of History seemed negligent, so I made a commitment to a daily blog while this is happening. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up.

Today, I didn’t want to write. I was hoping to write something happy, or funny; to write about birds or      the pink super moon we are expecting but instead the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care. This is a huge moment in history. This virus doesn’t have a good prognosis once it starts to attack the lungs and so the nation is collectively holding their breath, which is the last thing we should be doing. Breathe everyone! Even people who have an ideological hatred of his policies are having to admit that this is not what they wanted.  We are thinking about his family: his children, siblings, Dad and pregnant girlfriend. We put ourselves in their shoes because we understand what it feels like to be family. We fear for our country. We worry about the medical staff who, already under intense pressure, will be feeling that they mustn’t let this one die.

It makes us question our mortality.

“Stay safe,” we write on emails, knowing that that’s not possible. Then we get angry and look for someone to blame. Trust me, blame won’t help you in the long run. It’s not the fault of the man who sat in a park in the sunshine or whoever decided we needed 5G. Eventually, we will all have to accept that this novel virus is just some random piece of shit that is part of life’s rich shittiness.

So, I will be hoping, praying, practising my breathing (because it might help if I get it and does help to keep things in perspective. ) And will be standing outside to appreciate the clear sky, lack of pollution a super big pink moon.