UNITED STATES─Social isolation it is likely a term so many of us have heard far more than we can handle at this point. For me, it’s a term I hate because I feel like it is literally taking over my life as I know it. Human beings by nature are social beings so the fact that we are limited in terms of our social interactions right now is not a good thing to say the least.
For extroverts it’s like being trapped in a box, for introverts it is probably just as bad. Some of us might not like to interact with people, but we still want to have some form of interaction America. I mean I love my family, but I have a few members right now that are driving me nuts. In my head I’m telling myself, “Please go back to work right now, for the love of God, please go to work already!”
Why? They do things that can annoy you. How about not cleaning up after themselves? How about constantly wanting to hold a conversation when you’re not interested in talking? How about just nagging you for the sake of nagging you? Would you like me to continue? I totally get the notion of why we have to self-isolate; we want this virus to drop in terms of the number of people who catch it.
I mean in the United States if anything it seems like the numbers continue to grow more and more each day. First it was California, then New York, now Michigan and Louisiana as of late have become the new hot spot America. The number of people who have contracted the virus in some states has grown exponentially in the past week, and it feels like we’ll see everyone contracting the virus before we see some level of drop-off if you want my personal opinion to be honest.
With that said, what do you do to cope with the notion of social isolation becoming more of a trend than what many Americans ever expected? Well for starters, you have to look at social isolation as not being a bad thing; it is to fix a massive problem. Is it difficult to be isolated from the world? Oh, absolutely, and anyone who tells you otherwise is completely lying to themselves. While you might be isolated from the world, you still have family that you can contact. Heck you can even do something that probably most Americans have not done in years: write a letter.
Yes, take a pen and paper and pour your heart out to loved ones. Share your deepest and darkest fears, be honest and share with them how much you love them. Reconcile with those friends or family members who have been MIA in your life in past years. Time is precious and this virus is not discriminating against anyone: young, old, Black, White, religious, non-religious; if you come in contact with it, you could be in grave danger. That doesn’t mean, you will die as many people have survived the coronavirus, we just don’t hear about that as much.
I mean consider this as the new norm: walking into a grocery store or retailer and you are forced to stand behind red tape. Yes, it was indeed a sight to see, but it raised an important question: is this something we should have always done? I think so. One it prevents people from being all up on you. Some people don’t understand the importance of respecting people’s personal space. Like you should always give people a bit of distance, but this social isolation thing is forcing people to think twice about it.
I will say the one great thing is the weather has been great throughout this pandemic, epidemic, crisis, whatever you want to call it. So you do have the freedom to go outside and get a bit of fresh air here and there. You can also play outside with the kids, do a bit of yard work and not feel like you have to be trapped in the house. There is a reason I say that: a lot of people think social isolation means you’re stuck in the house, and while to a degree you are, you’re not being forced to literally stay inside the house and never leave.
As long as we treat this as something temporary we all shall come out on top of things. The key phrase being its temporary, so do not allow it to become something permanent.
Written By Zoe Mitchell
