In a year quite unlike any other, we thought we were out of the woods as a country. We may have jumped the gun on that. We struggled through April and May, which seemed like the peak of the virus. We got to August when life took a step towards normal. September and October, we were hopeful of further opening and fewer restrictions. Then came late November, record cases are seen almost daily in New Jersey. Michigan shuts down for three weeks. The simple question remains: Are we going to go forward or backwards? Backwards may be a sad reality we are about to face.
New restrictions are coming in from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy as our cases climb above 4,000 a day. How have we gotten here? I honestly have no idea. I, like many others, believed we were making progress, but instead we were slowly going backwards. This is extremely saddening, considering the fact we just got back into school in a hybrid schedule, and winter sports are right around the corner. At this point, we must be extra careful and realize that our actions affect not only us, but all those in contact with us.
Remember watching the New Year's ball drop and yelling Happy New Year? Yeah, I do too. If I knew what was going to happen this year, you best believe I wouldn't have been so cheerful, or maybe I would have. Through this rough time, I was able to spend a lot of time with my family and loved ones. That has been a blessing. I also appreciate the small things more than I did before. No one wants to go back into lockdown or something along those lines, but if we did, it's nothing we can't conquer and haven't done before.
As we look forward, we see the Christmas season right around the corner with New Year's Day following close behind. This special time of year will hopefully lift everyone's spirits no matter where they are. We will be able to hold that sense of familiarity through uncertain times and unprecedented circumstances. We need to look forward and look forwards to the positives in an otherwise not good situation that COVID-19 is because we may have hope on the way. Vaccines are coming out sometime in 2021 which is great because we may be allowed to return to the life we knew before 2020. We have to finish this year out the best we can no matter what gets passed down from the government. We must be optimistic and find bright spots in a bleak time. We must appreciate all we can. We may not know what tomorrow brings, good or bad, but we can control ourselves and our attitudes and that is what matters.
I often wonder how we got here or what we're all doing differently that we weren't doing before. I do like how you end on a positive note!
ReplyDeleteI like that you included a powerful message at the very end: "We must appreciate all we can. We may not know what tomorrow brings....." And yeah thank goodness they're coming out with vaccines in the near future because I'm pretty sure I can speak for everyone when I say, we all want our "normal" lives back.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said at the end and I do hope this season feels normal.
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