This time, a slightly different post.
We’ve just finished five weeks of a forced vacation, locked inside our homes, and there’s still no end in sight. No one has answers, only more and more questions. The time we are living through right now will probably be studied in history books — such a surreal reality! People confined at home while animals roam freely in the streets without fear.
Seeing those images on social media made me pause, reflect, and draw lessons. I choose to believe that it will be okay. I’ve always been a “glass half full” kind of person. I look at this time as a sign that something needed to change. Our priorities, our pace of life, the constant race to do everything and miss nothing — it simply wasn’t sustainable. The universe, in its own unmistakable way, told us: Stop everything!I understand the need to hold on to routine — it’s what helps us feel normal so that we can return to ourselves when all this is over. I am very much a person of routine, and it makes me feel grounded. But after three weeks, a deeper question emerged:
Do I really want to return to the way things were before? Do you?
Do we want to return to days that start at 6 a.m. and end at 11 p.m., full of stress, running, noise, endless work and commuting — with so little quality, meaningful time for ourselves and our loved ones?I choose to believe it will be okay because, in these weeks, we found moments of joy. We went on walks together as a family — even if it was just 100 meters outside — and breathed fresh air. We cooked and baked more, ordered less processed food, and played games with our children that we ourselves loved years ago. We read books, had real conversations, cleaned, organized, and even donated.Passover came and went, and for me, it felt like a kind of Yom Kippur — a time of reflection, cleansing not only of the house but also of the soul. This holiday brought with it change, renewal, and new meaning.Each of us should come out of this crisis a little improved — a version 2.0 of ourselves. Instead of rushing back to old routines, let’s take the time to make a list, individually or with our families, of the things we want to preserve when this is all over.I don’t believe we’ll have another opportunity quite like this — to pause, to stay home with our children, with ourselves, and to truly think. I believe that many who lost jobs will find ways to reinvent themselves. Priorities will shift, families will establish new habits, and parents who return to work may suddenly long for the time they had with their children.
So let’s all believe: it will be okay!