Our current situation lends itself to forming new habits. Not only in an immediately local sense, but nationally, our situation is that of a “new normal.” With new procedures and protocol, we have adopted an altered routine. In some aspects, it has made living harder.
Video calls lead to lethargy, breeding laziness and indifference even in light of the opportunity for something beyond the screen. Whether in education or employment, there is a lack of consistency. One class may be on Zoom, on a different app, or prerecorded and uploaded at a later time.
If we go out in public, there are places to wear masks and places that leave it up to individual discretion. There is a time to don a mask, and a time to remove it; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. With disorder, there is little to hold onto in an everchanging atmosphere of the looming pandemic. We fall into uncertainty, even hypocrisy.
But there is something positive this pandemic has done. It has forced people in very tangible ways to take charge of their lives, confront themselves, and take responsibility for how they use their time. If you’re in quarantine or are sheltering in place, you are being given a chance to do something. Time lost returns again, and it asks us how we used it.
