When a family member offered me a home as refuge in Florida, I knew I would be wise to leave. New York City now has over 2,400 dead and 65,000+ infected from Covid–19. Needless to say, my heart aches for a city that I've grown to love.
What will it be like after this?
I have so many questions:
What will life be like post-virus?
How will this change societal interactions?
How long will it take us to be comfortable getting close to each other again and gathering in large groups?
Will this virus instigate a move away from cities and back into my suburban and rural areas?
The fastest way I can think of to make someone depressed is to ensure they are confined and alone for an extended period of time.
How will this impact depression and suicide?
On the flip side, this gives many people a much needed chance to slow down, look up and reflect on the direction their life is going, assess what their goals are and potentially alter course in a positive way.
I can only imagine companies that were completely rigid to the idea of remote work will now see that the fixed overhead of office spaces is largely unnecessary and their employees are happier and just as productive working from home.
Will fashion change and will we see people start wearing masks and face covers in a stylish way?
Will we see a rise in nationalism/local production as every country on earth send foreigners away and global business is crippled?
It's such an interesting time to be alive. I feel odd. Part of me wants to curl in a ball. Part of me feels somber and unhappy because people are getting sick and dying. Another part of me is defiant and refuses to let a virus take my happiness and stop me from pushing my life forward and improving myself, creating meaningful images and spreading smiles.
In a weird way, I can't help but feel like this is bringing humanity together, too. Rarely in history, if ever, has the entire world been on the same side fighting so hard. It's as if aliens were invading our planet and we all let go of our differences for a second for a common goal: to live, to be safe and to be healthy.
So strange.