“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.”
– Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
For 7 weeks now, we have been under the Movement Control Order. Some of us are stuck in residences crowded with housemates whom we barely know and managed to avoid for years before this. Some of us are stuck alone without a single soul to judge us as we waltz around the communal area in only a towel. Some of us are at home, either cooking and baking – having the time of our lives; or hiding away from toxic interactions, praying for escape. Some of us are taking the time to learn new things, while some of us are having trouble finding any meaning to waking up in the morning. The situation for every person is unique in its challenges and pleasures.
There is one thing we all have in common, though. We’re all thinking about how things could’ve been. Whether it’s, “this time last year I was…” or “right now I’m supposed to be at…” or “now I will never get to…”, the grief of our individual lost plans weighs upon us, on top of the concern we have for the COVID-19 victims and frontliners. After all, we’re only human, and it’s not something to be ashamed of.