Kia ora everyone,
Life continues to be a surreal out-of-body experience at the moment as we grabble with COIVD lockdowns and finding a new way of living our lives from the ones we once took so much for granted. After 6 weeks, I finally feel like I have managed to create some routine that enables me to continue to function in a way that is productive and purposeful.
Over zoom and telephone meetings I have heard repeatedly that people are finding this lockdown the hardest so far, and perhaps that should not be surprising at all. Even those living outside of Auckland under different lockdown levels have expressed feelings of unease and uncertainty.
I watch the news with slight alarm and dismay but mostly sadness at how our communities are becoming increasingly more angry and divided in regards to the pro and anti vacc’ers and those for and against the lockdowns, yet I can understand the anxiety, frustration, and fear which this comes from.
‘Unprecedented’, is a word I find myself using repeatedly when I attempt to put rational and reasoning around what is happening. As communities, a Nation and at a Global level, we have not experienced something like this in our lifetimes. It erodes our sense of security, liberties, and traditional coping mechanisms. We have nothing to compare to.
However, with adversity comes many life lessons.
I have learned to become much more proficient with zoom and other similar technology
I have learned how to do payroll and booking keeping through MYOB
I have learned even though the to-do list is a mile long, sometimes it’s okay to just leave it
I have learned that my grandson was playing computer games when we thought he was doing online school
I have learned to be proficient at online shopping
I have learned that what I have learned may not make sense in a COVID World
The most significant lesson has not really been a new one, but a reinforcement of something I have always known, but sometimes forget, and that is the important thing is he tangata, he tangata, he tangata
Kia kaha Jane Bruning, National Coordinator, Positive Women Inc.
