Corona, Everyday, London
How are you?
Probably, wherever you are, I think you are having a completely different routine than before.
So do i. I am trying to adapt to a life that has changed so much.
The sadness of those who are left behind
Even today, I see friends leaving the front door of the dormitory with luggage full of both hands. A week has passed since the sound of carrier wheels through the window has become a daily routine. Foreign students return to their home countries, where school classes are turned online and they no longer need to be in London. Even if you are exposed to the virus, the desire to receive treatment in’my country’ also encourages strangers. I fully understand. Some of the friends I’ve been close to right now have already said goodbye. Two of the six flat mates who shared the kitchen vacated the room. There is more space in the refrigerator and less crowded time to prepare meals, but there is more emptiness than convenience. I wish those who shared their lives in other countries one by one, leaving them healthy and happy. But on the one side of my heart, there are strange feelings that are difficult to explain. Is it the sadness of the one left behind?
Life continues for those who have left and those who are left behind. As the British government recommends social distancing, I and the rest of my flatmates live in dormitories. Thanks to this, I am getting closer to the rest of my flatmates as far as I am from my outside life. As in the past, we can’t get together to eat and eat together, and we can’t make a lot of noise, but we meet each other every morning, lunch, and dinner and ask each other’s best regards. Last weekend, after recording a week of’incarceration’, we played board games while keeping a little distance from each other. Thanks to this, I relieved a little of the stress caused by not working in social life. After all, people seem to be social beings.
Then, I feel very grateful for the situation. There is space to stay safely, and there are friends with whom you can talk. It is not a situation where you have to worry about workplace problems or financial status, and there is not an underlying disease that is vulnerable to a virus. Moreover, there are many studies and tasks to be done anyway, so it is impossible to empty the desk for a long time. However, it is unfortunate that the weather, which was often cold and rainy throughout the winter, has been steadily telling us of spring, and it is not possible to greet us as well as our heart. Yesterday, I walked along the wall inside the dormitory to get some relief from this regret. That night, my flat mate kicked me when I went to the laundry room to do the laundry and saw me, saying,‘The look out of the fence was too faint’. I think it must have looked pitiful.
A world different from before, people who adapt
Sadness for a while, in fact, last week, I was busy adjusting to a different life. Looking back, it seems to have been a very long time. I heard that the reason I feel that time is passing faster as I get older is that my new experiences are gradually disappearing and similar routines are repeated.
First of all, life revolves around online. Taking classes online, and discussions with professors and friends are all conducted online. It’s an online class I’ve experienced before, but I was very curious about how the video online discussion with 10 people participated. The bottom line is’It’s better than you think’. There was silence at the beginning of the debate, but some of the talkers and friends quickly adapted to the new way continued the heated debate just like in normal class. Rather, some friends who didn’t talk a lot offline, whether because of embarrassment, also participated more actively than usual.
In the evening, I spend my time watching online videos to practice yoga. I was embarrassed by the fact that the yoga studio I was attending was temporarily closing the bury, but after a few days, online training wasn’t bad. There is also the advantage of being able to practice at the time I want and in the atmosphere I want. After dimming the lights late at night, sprinkling refreshing aromatic oils in the room and ending the day with yoga, the whole world seems to be peaceful. I am really grateful for how humble yoga can be done in a space less than a pyeong. I am grateful to myself for presenting this time to myself in the midst of a noisy inside and outside of my heart.
The true value revealed in crisis
The more difficult it is, the more kind you should be with yourself and others. We believe that taking good care of yourself and your surroundings is the way to overcome the crisis. Looking at it, it seems that the true value of people and society is revealed in a crisis. In fact, with the coronavirus outbreak, various problems faced by various societies were revealed on the surface. In South Korea, the irrational behavior of suspicious religious groups caused a big wave, in China the government’s move to control information was spotted, and in Japan, the closed bureaucracy was criticized. Discrimination against Asians and large and small accidents are occurring one after another in several European countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, where the virus is spreading widely. The fear, embarrassment and anger in unprecedented situations makes sense. I am angry too. However, it is mean to target society’s minorities as the target of the eruption of emotion. Selfish hoarding is also essential.
Last weekend, Yuval Harari, who is famous for his writings such as’Sapiens’ and’Homo Deus’, wrote a long column about the corona crisis in the Financial Times (FT).
This storm will pass, humanity will survive, and most of us will still live. However, in a different world than before. (Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world.)
I am very sympathetic.
After all of this is over, how will we be different?
What new world will we live in?
Wouldn’t the daily attitude of dealing with crises now make the world to come?