For many of us, January is a time to both look backward and forward. We might assess our year just past and decide what was good and what we want to change. We may go into the new year with hopes and resolutions. 2020 was one of the most difficult many of us have ever had to face. I don't think that 2021 will be particularly easy.
I've always known that I can function on my own, in solitude, and 2020 has confirmed that. I'm not a complete hermit, however, and I miss the face to face contact with certain family and friends. It's just not the same looking at them on a screen and trying to have a meaningful conversation there.
At the beginning of this pandemic I read all I could about the 1918 influenza. I learned that it had several waves and that it lasted at least a couple of years. The people and communities that survived best were those that wore masks and reduced their contacts with others. So I was somewhat prepared. That didn't make it much easier, however.
Like most people, I've had my ups and downs. So far, I've remained healthy, though as usual I've had to deal with the effects of aging: arthritis, changing sleep patterns, and digestive disturbances. Some of these symptoms are part of Covid also, so I've had to be calm about them.
However, just as the 1918 pandemic eventually ended as the most vulnerable died and others gained immunity, I believe that this pandemic will end, too. Vaccines will help. The 1918 flu mutated into one much less virulent and deadly and became just one of the flu strains that we deal with each winter. Hopefully something similar will happen with this one.
I hear people talk about all the things they will do when this pandemic is over. I recently heard a radio interview in which an author who studies pandemics talked about it taking several years for communities to recover from pandemics.
We've seen economic, social, political, and other consequences already. Will we make a better world as a result of this? I hope so.
Some talk about how much they are looking forward to travelling again. I love to travel, too, when I can afford it, but I'm also aware of how travel has made us all more susceptible to illnesses and pandemics. Do we really want to take those risks again with wide open travel? Do we want to continue to feel entitled to travel as much as we wish and can afford? Will we keep ignoring the causes of climate change?
In many ways we are lucky in this pandemic. We have many ways of keeping in contact with those we care about, ways that weren't available to people in 1918. Our medical knowledge and health care systems have improved since then, though we also see the cracks in the systems. The ability to manufacture vaccines in months rather than years is a huge advantage and a great success, showing the best of humankind. We've also seen the worst.
I've confirmed things that I knew about myself, found ways to survive and deal with ups and downs. Even found ways to thrive at times.
I look forward to having more freedom than I currently allow myself. But I think that I will also continue to be more cautious, at least for quite a while.
