For every glimmer of hope that some form of normalcy might not be too far off, I find myself getting smacked by the disheartening realization that we’re in this for the long haul.
Surviving a pandemic, both physically and mentally, is a challenge none of us has ever encountered, so most are taking it a day at a time, hoping that tomorrow brings better news. And, for the most part, we appear to be trending in the right direction as public discourse has largely morphed from preventing an overwhelming of our health care system to what a gradual re-opening of the economy would look like.
Although we might well see a loosening of some restrictions in the not too distant future, what hits me upside the head is that even months from now life is still going to be very different. That’s not to say things won’t be better next week or next month, but to already know at the end of April that July and August will be far from our usual summer does things – and not necessarily good things – to the mind.
For a great many people, summer is a time for holidays, whether that’s a road trip to the lake or jetting off to somewhere more distant, neither of which seems terribly likely at this point for a variety of reasons. Summer (and late spring) is also a time for big community events like Ladner May Days, Boundary Bay Airshow and Tsawwassen Sun Festival, all of which have already been cancelled.
It’s one thing to endure isolation and restrictions knowing that better days are ahead, but it gets more difficult to cling onto that hope when it’s still April and we already know that summer won’t look like any that came before it. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be buoyed by the positives we’re starting to see around us. As businesses get prepared to slowly re-open, and perhaps schools too, we will inch closer to a more normal existence, albeit a “new normal” where social distancing will continue to reign supreme.
It’s going to take time, however, and that might well be the most daunting hurdle we’ll be forced to clear during this whole pandemic. It’s tough enough getting through one day and into the next that it’s hard to fathom this lasting for months, but we’ve got little choice but to accept that it’s going to be a long haul.
