When the world is evolving every second


In the end of January, I noticed my routine got changed, no more gym class, no more lawn bowling class and no more Portuguese class.

The Chinese New Year day 1 gave me some comfort as my brother’s family came over for a family meal. I’m never a good cook but I’m happy to prepare something for my family once a year.

As a matter of fact, I met them a week before for the winter’s solstice but obviously I noticed something different when they arrived at my door. They were all wearing surgical masks.

I never wore one at all during SARS, and before the Chinese New Year. I did put one on when I had to go back to work for a new year baby press call a few years ago, only because of my dental procedure.

I slowly had to accept the fact that I couldn’t go out without one though I only had a few masks at home. I still remember the first day I put one on, I felt so suffocated. 

February was over without many exciting moments except my daily walk during lunch and my hikes during weekend. I would say that’s one of my highlights in the month.

Now it’s in March. I'm checking my flight status more. The spread of the outbreak is worrying, especially in a number of European countries.  Sometimes I feel like I am going to have a nervous breakdown if I check it once more. To be honest, if I haven’t booked my holiday, I’d rather have my eyes shut. Somehow I have to stay close with the news as media enquiries are coming in from time to time. Otherwise I will take the psychologists’ advice on not staying too close to the news.

In this stressful time, it’s important to stay positive. As social distancing is strongly advised, I randomly say hi to some friends online, first, checking if they’re ok; second, make myself feeling less isolated when staying home; third, do feel stronger when connecting with them again.

Sometimes when I wake up, I try to ask myself if it were a dream. Sadly, I’m not having a nightmare. I realize that it’s a great challenge to your own mindset, apart from your work and daily routine. After all, human beings are social animals. I can very much relate to the movie, the Life of Pi now. How sad Pi is when his tiger that can eat him up left him.


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