Revival of the loner

It’s rather ironic really. Something nobody had ever heard of started affecting nearly everybody’s life in the time span of just a few weeks. I don’t think I need to use the C-word again. Everybody knows what I am talking about. Closed schools, empty cities and hospitals preparing for war. Yet, never before have I heard so much talk about the economy on the news. Sometimes I get the feel that people are no more than players to keep a virtual machine running. Honestly, I believe the economy to be crucial to all of us, but the only economy worth saving is one that benefits each and every one of us. We only get one shot at life, so wasting it dragging ourselves from one day to the next doesn’t make any sense. I’ve heard people say that exactly because of that they shouldn’t abide to the lockdown rules, but I strongly oppose to such reasoning. Enjoying life is not about doing crazy things all the time, it’s about making the best of whatever situation you end up in. This can be being stuck indoors because of the lockdown, but might as well be losing everything due to a lack of social security as in the USA or being imprisoned in a refugee camp facing an invisible enemy. I’m among that first group, stuck indoors with nothing else to complain about. Working from home full-time gives me heaps of extra free time that I am really enjoying. Time to read books, watch movies, make plans, write, walk, learn and start sporting on a regular basis. Without the lockdown I would have spent every free moment riding my bike or travelling wherever possible while longing for some time to read. Instead of commuting back and forth to work I now get up a little earlier to read my book (‘Shantaram’ – Gregory David Roberts), have a cup of tea before breakfast and in the afternoon, when my eyes are tired of looking at a computer screen, I go for a walk, a run or do some exercises before conquering those last few hours of work. Apart from when we were on the road for a year, I never before felt so genuinely relaxed and happy. This doesn’t mean that I’m smiling all the time, most certainly not. Some days I have been angry, others I have been unsure and some I felt sad. That’s just how life goes, and that’s okay. Rather it’s the feeling of being able to do nothing and not having to worry about all the things I should have been doing during that time. It’s a realisation and acceptation that somehow everything will be okay.

I always thought that this type of life could be something for me, well, now I am sure of it. It’s true that on a daily basis you see less people, but at the same time you have more time to share with the people who really matter. With the lockdown we may not have been allowed to meet up physically, but these days we have so many different ways to reach out to one another. Independent of where somebody is in this world, they are no more than a phone call away. At the same time this lockdown made me realise that maybe, just maybe, I might be a little more of a loner than I always thought myself to be. Not in the sense that I want to run away from society and leave people behind, but rather that I am rather satisfied with spending time on my own. Even though these days have been strange and sometimes challenging, I hope that each and every one of you at least had some time to appreciate the otherwise so normal daily activities.