Hell, it should be a goddamn motto.
It’s been a while since I last wrote anything on here. Not because I have nothing to say – on the contrary, there is too much to say. In the last few months, so much has happened that I find no words sufficient to describe the terrors that have gripped our world for nearly a year.
How quickly the “new 2021” veil dissolved into despair. Many find themselves very much in the same place as 2020. Stuck at home, stuck in the same mundane existence. With millions dead globally, COVID has found other ways of taking lives, or destroying them entirely; by turning our sanctuaries into echo chambers of our own demons, frustrations and fears. It strikes into the heart of our mental health, regardless of our race, age, gender, culture, colour, or language. Because it is a universal, faceless, careless, merciless evil. It hates no one. It loves no one.
These days, much like countless others, I find myself escaping more and more into fictional worlds; I began watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars series from top to bottom, and I cannot stop building Lego. Some days are OK. Others are bad. The escapes can only take us so far, because we are human after all; it is hugs and laughter, friends and family, human experiences that make us feel alive. It is here, at this humanity, that COVID strikes most effectively. The inherent desire to live and feel are built within every one of us, thus exposing just how fragile we truly are.
For those who feel surprised about the fact that we are all going insane in one way or another – don’t. Domestic violence has been at an all-time high, which of course, trickles down as well. After all, COVID has this other little magical ability where it can take the smallest fracture in a relationship or marriage and push it to its breaking point.
That’s the reality – we are all struggling to cope in our own ways. Whether it’s jogging, building Lego or escaping into a virtual battlefield in some video game, no one is actually okay. Not your parents, not your partner, not family or friends, not your neighbour, or their neighbour. At a time when hopelessness is a rapidly-consuming force, we must do our best to keep an eye out for each other as best we can. Call a friend. Check up on a neighbour (while safely distancing, of course) – ask how their day was, how they are doing. It’s something that money or power cannot buy, or create: a human bid for connection. And that human bid for connection may help someone think twice about making a decision they will regret, or never step back from.
Perhaps, it may be that voice that keeps us from the dark.
Be kind. Give a hug. Take a hug. We’re in this together.
If you or a loved one are suffering from a mental health crisis right now, call this line at: 1-800-784-2433. There is also a kids help phone line: call 1-800-668-6868 to speak to a professional counsellor, 24/7.
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