The Second Year
I found this piece by My Sweet Dumb Brain comparing the second year of the pandemic to the second year after a loss thought-provoking. She explains that while the second year doesn’t hold the shock of the first, it is hard for different reasons.
The second year, though, is undeniably more lonely … It’s hard not to blame yourself for not ‘moving on,’ because everyone else clearly has.
She goes into secondary losses and discouraging thoughts. And it’s true — in many ways, the second year of the pandemic was harder than the first. There was more cohesiveness during that first year. More clapping out the hospital staff every night. More “we’re all in this together” mentality, even if we also know that mentality wasn’t embraced in the same way by everyone.
And now… strangely… we are about to enter Q1 of the third year. And she recommends a thought that is getting her through—”embrace the fog”: “The future is a little foggy, and it always has been. Our illusion of control is just that—an illusion.” We don’t know what is ahead. Accepting that may be the key to getting us through a third spring.
2 comments
I love that, “embrace the fog.” I wholeheartedly agree that 2021 has been harder. I think there’s this feeling of “things SHOULD be better” and disbelief that they’re not, and that so many feel like everything IS back to normal when it’s soooooo not. This school year feels harder in many ways. And the cumulative effect of all the anxiety and bad news is just exhausting. But the acceptance, that is a good strategy. Accept that it will be foggy and not great instead of reaching for that elusive “normal.” Sigh
Yes. Last year there was hope. None now. Biden’s administration & CDC are handling the pandemic worse than Trump’s. Quite a feat.