This week seemed to have passed by faster than the previous lockdown weeks for me. It was filled with one on one lunches and meeting people for drinks due to the limit of 2 to dine still being in force. PlusI had a false alarm on a job opportunity that came to nothing.
S’pore had its first day of more than 5k positive cases while covid deaths remained high by our standards. While it is worrying for us as a nation, it seems like the rest of the world is also getting ready for a tough winter ahead as the virus stubbornly refused to subside. We are faced with a new normal as we are soon arriving at the 2nd anniversary of Covid.
The fear of getting Covid must now be replaced by the fact that we need to embrace it. In an endemic, we are now told that everyone will probably contract it in the future as it is inevitable. The assurance is that it will be a mild and non-deadly experience as we have had the vaccine. Yet we are starting to see deaths for the older age group regardless of vaccination status with comorbidities reasoning as an excuse. The booster shot had also been rushed out as an additional measure.
Being just a few years away from hitting the 60s benchmark that defined the most vulnerable group, I am naturally concerned that we may be the borderline cases for our age group. I just had my booster shot yesterday (Moderna 0.25 ml for a change) the moment I received my SMS to book an appointment. Better be safe than sorry. Given that I already had 2 Pfizer mRNA shots already, what is so dramatic about getting another one?
The twist and turns that Covid had given all of us over the last 21 months are worthy of a K-drama thriller. Just when you thought it is safe to go out, it slaps you with another variant that comes where you least expects it. Non-stop action thriller that keeps you glued to your seat wondering if you are next.
Even as we are trained in 2020 to adopt a zero Covid strategy while thinking that the vaccines are the light at the end of the tunnel, the realization that it is not has impacted all our mental health tremendously. Covid fatigue is real and challenging for each and every one of us. Governments are at their wits end trying to be nimble with work in progress action plans.
We will probably look back on these times a year from now and declare that the solution was so obvious. Yet as we live through these times now, we are at a loss – where do we go from here? We just need to push on day by day, week by week and look to outlast the virus before it consumes us.
Personally, I have tried to return to some form of normal life within the constraints that we have. While being careful and taking precautions, I have had quite a number of nice one on one catchups this week with some old friends. The conversation is deeper and more substantiative as it is only 2 of us.
Human face to face interaction is necessary to maintain a level of saneness. We acknowledge that and make do with whatever we can. Some friends understandably withdraw into their cocooned homes for fear of bringing the virus home to their elderly loved ones. To each his own. After so many lockdowns, we have been conditioned to live our lives this way.
That is why is so difficult to come out of our rabbit holes now as cases and deaths are high. It takes a lot of courage to say “screw it, I want to live my life again”. The western world has already decided to do that, even as Asia slowly follows. China and HK are the last 2 holdouts to continue with their zero Covid strategies.
My friends and I reflect on our mid-life journey and try to figure out the world before us. What is coming next and how can we better prepare ourselves for the future post-Covid. I believe that reaching out to many people to discuss differing points of view is healthy and it prevents you from getting into the trap of having just a narrow perspective of your own echo chamber of reality. We tend to stick to our beliefs which may eventually shut out all other “alternate” views that may disprove our own. This is is not helpful in the long run.
The other “excitement” of the week was a potential job opportunity which 2 ex-colleagues approached me earlier in the week. It turned out to be a miscommunication and it was for a junior post for which I was not a suitable candidate. Oh well, so much for the mental buildup to steel myself to apply for it. It was good that the supervisor in charge told me upfront yesterday and we agreed to close the case. Not really looking forward to doing a full-time job nowadays but I would really like to become a full-time student though 😉 Campus life will make me feel young again…
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