The pandemic seems to take away our sense of community; at least in the physical sense. But we start to realize that with lockdowns and social restrictions, communities find creative ways to connect or re-connect. For instance, we are seeing more businesses working from home and meeting virtually, to online and live streaming churches, to live streaming concerts, and even to doing virtual runs—especially for avid runners who used to travel often to run races pre-covid. Overall, the pandemic causes us to travel and explore less, but it teaches us to find new ways to be compassionate.
Welcome to a new episode of Real Talk from OSYL. In this episode, we talk about how we plan for the future during the pandemic—even if the future is a short grocery trip away. This episode helps shed light on our anxious feelings when it comes to preparing to be out in the public during all the Covid-19 mandates and the conflict between different parties about it.
Though this can be a breezy short read, there are a couple ways to listen to the podcast. For the audio portion of the podcast, you can listen below or download directly here: https://realtalkwithosyl.buzzsprout.com/
The podcast will also be on other platforms like Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and InTune Radio! Just search for OSYL!
In this episode, we take turns answering 3 questions about how we prepare ourselves before venturing out into the public during the pandemic. This episode features the usuals: Steven, Tyler, and Zvon. Each of them ran with the questions and provided a quick and thoughtful response to them. These 3 questions are:
1. How have you been planning things during the pandemic?
2. Do you think that just reacting/coming up with spur of the moment plans has been detrimental during the pandemic? Or do you think that’s all we can do?
3. Can we all learn to practice foresight to avoid the anxiousness and uncertainty of planning?
Even if there wasn’t a virus, as humans we adapt to try to expect the unexpected. Because of this, it causes us to learn to plan as best as we can without hindering our ability to move forward. This applies to all situations. We have to understand that nothing in life is perfect. Learn to trust in your convictions and let that be the guide to carry you forward. Even though we are far from where we want to be and with no end yet in sight during this pandemic, as all challenges that arises in our lives we learn to adapt and grow from it. Though our future all over the world is still uncertain, we wish that we all continue to show love and support to one another.
Our ability to plan comes with the ability to also be flexible and spontaneous. During the pandemic, it is hard to be spontaneous. No longer are the days when we can just hop in the car, drive to a city near one of our friends and stop by unexpected to ask if they want to hang out. Nowadays, especially about 7 months into the c-19 pandemic, being spontaneous feels disrespectful in the sense that unexpectedly dropping in on a friend without their permission can jeopardize the safety of their health. Even just going out nowadays seems to require more planning in thinking about your day. The routes we take or the expected exposure to the public, requires a little planning ahead of time before we jump in the car. Other than that, and adapting to this new norm, we found that 7 months in, is just giving us a reason to pursue goals or hobbies we had been holding back on pre-COVID.