How to stay sane during the coronavirus pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented
situation: Whole countries are locked down, people are isolated, and healthcare
systems are reaching their limits. Meanwhile, the news is reporting on nothing
else. How can we get through this without feeling helpless and depressed?
The Virus Is a Reminder of Something Lost Long Ago
The Virus Is a Reminder of Something Lost Long Ago
Alan Lightman notes:
“In bad times, innovation can occur in habits of mind as well as in new technologies. The frightening COVID-19 pandemic may be creating such a change now—by forcing many of us to slow down, to spend more time in personal reflection, away from the noise and heave of the world. With more quiet time, more privacy, more stillness, we have an opportunity to think about who we are, as individuals and as a society.
Habits of mind and lifestyle do not change easily. Without noticing, we slowly slip into the routines of our lives, like becoming so accustomed to living on a noisy street that we cannot remember our previous neighborhood and a time of silence. Some powerful force must strike to awaken us from our slumber. Now we have been struck. We have a chance to notice: We have been living too fast. We have sold our inner selves to the devil of speed, efficiency, money, hyper-connectivity, “progress.””