With the onslaught of the coronavirus in the midst of significant social and political friction, it feels like the world has utterly demolished the concept of what complication entails. As a university student, my life is already in a state of uncertainty in regards to any future prospects. The coronavirus furthering the destabilisation of society my internalised fears were amplified. So many things were occurring at once. Issues to be addressed. Changes to be implemented. Plans to be made then altered and then altered again. Worry became frustration, which gave way to numbness, a sense of disconnection, as all the obligations and commitments that fuelled my ambition and anchored me to reality yielded me to four simple walls as I sat in front of my screen in a haze. Adrift. Those are the days where I want to just bury myself under the dirt and lay in the earth to feel a semblance of connection to the world.
But still, “every day may not be good … but there’s something good in every day” (Alice Morse Earle).
The quarantine allowed for a time of rediscovery, an increase in both self and collective awareness.
The sudden need to self-isolate blatantly highlighted inherent social issues and hypocrisy that were ignored in favour of ignorant bliss. I understood that the most difficult conversations to have are the ones I needed the most.
Progress isn’t linear, but to see everyone make an effort to carry on in the midst of adversity is strangely comforting.
Written by N from Hong Kong
Illustrated by @dearmacherie
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