Intuition of a sudden lock down – something we never thought could happen. This real life story is about one thought that changed the nature of my year 2020.
I was sitting having a coffee in Ibiza one weekday morning in March a year ago in Spring 2020, with my laptop and a notepad wondering what I was going to write about that day.
As I was doodling, I had a flash inside with an intense feeling. It was a strong intuition that raced through me. I felt that I really wanted to see my son and I wanted him to come back home. He is a University student and lived in Amsterdam. I live mainly in ibiza. He has a job in Amsterdam, and I knew that in an hour or so he would be leaving to go to work as normal and be out of reach for a few hours.
A shocking thought
I reached for my phone and called him straight away. I asked him to come back home to Ibiza straight away on the next flight. He sensed with the tone of my voice that I was serious about it. I didn’t really give him an explanation other than I thought it felt important to get here as soon as possible.
Inside I felt that things may get difficult with the news of the virus affecting businesses, travel and this was likely to bring some big changes to everyday life. So much has changed and moved fast since that time. The whole world has shifted since then and I felt the need to get my son with me urgently. It feels like a different world now.
He agreed and booked to come home the very next day and told his work he would be away for a little while. Within 36 hours, everything was in full lockdown here. No one could move anywhere. We were told we couldn’t leave our homes, except to get food or pharmacy items. The airports and ports went on sudden lock down with full travel restrictions to outsiders. He arrived back home just in time, with hours to spare.
I got my son back home with just one day to spare before he got locked in
The relief I felt to have my son back with me is beyond words. I don’t think there are enough words to describe the relief and gratitude of having a loved one come home when there is a real crisis all around and a danger you may not get to be able to see them.
None of us were prepared for what happened next
The movement that has swept the globe in just a few weeks is having an extreme effect on everyone’s lives and livelihood. We have all been through the emotions of fear, anxiety, denial, acceptance and all the feelings during this incredible process of change and uncertainty.
Sudden change and fear across the globe
We are getting used to a new way of living. We all have a new day to day routine that feels so different to the one before. The situation arrived suddenly. In the meantime, we are faced with making some drastic changes to the way we live day to day not knowing what or when things will change again.
At the beginning we were not allowed out of our homes and the fines imposed were enormous for those caught out breaking the guidelines. Many people have been feeling frustration, a lot of fear and anxiety and general fear and overwhelm about what will happen in the future.
A fast life
I have always lived a very fast life. A life where I have been working full time, juggling my work life and home life, trying to do enough to keep all sides balanced so that I can bring up my son well as a single mum while making a good enough living to support us. Now we have some enforced home time. We are forced to slow down, take our time and find new things to fill our day as we are held captive in our homes. Everything has changed in such a short time.
Empty streets where once there was dancing
The streets are empty, the shops are closed, restaurants and bars are forbidden to open. When I leave home to go and buy food, there is no one around except the odd person wearing a mask and plastic gloves. We are walking around solo and being with others in cars or on the streets is forbidden. Our shops where I live in Ibiza are quite well stocked with food and the panic buying has stopped as people realise the food will continue to make it into the shops. We are being asked not to socialise with others while this virus gets contained.
The feeling of social isolation and social distancing is a strange thing. We have never had to experience anything like this ever before on such a widespread global scale. The whole of the globe has slowed down, shut down and closed their doors in a short space of time and we are reeling and dealing with the consequences at this moment. It is a shock for us all. We are wondering what the future will be like: what will happen socially, economically, in our medical systems and how we will feel when all of this is over, and we can resume a normal life. Will we ever go back to a normal life? What is normal? What will it be like in the future? Things will profoundly change for sure going forwards following this global experience. We have all changed already and see things differently than before.
No going back to the old ways for any of us
We have lessons to take from this. Maybe we don’t want to go back to normal again ever. We have important questions to ask now. We had to slow down the damage to the planet and natural resources – that is happening. We had to slow down the out of control spending and consuming and throwing away mindlessly – that is happening. We had to slow down the pollution levels and start being more concerned about our oceans and mother earth and to protect it – that is happening. We had to become more aware of the terrible conditions of animals being slaughtered for our food when we have our pets at home that we love and could never imagine eating – that is happening,
We have a lot to be grateful for, I am beginning to feel more grateful for the simple things, enjoying some time for more creativity in my life, yoga at home online, learning a new language, having my son home with me, taking time to cook healthy fresh meals every day and share them as a family around the table, help the elderly neighbours, look out for those people around us who are at risk or lonely, come together – online at least – with others and feel the benefits of having a loving community nearby.
There is a lot of good that is coming out of this situation. We must remember that the earth is getting some time off from being used and abused by us. It is a healing time for us as individuals, for our families, friends and the planet. This thing has rocked our world beyond country lines, religious lines, cultural lines, lines of age or ethnicity, It affects us all and reminds us we are a global family when it gets down to the nitty gritty, All the other barriers and prejudices we have learnt are not real and not applicable when we have something like this threatening all of humanity and it’s time to suspend our negative judgement of others with different beliefs or cultural systems.
Things will never be the same again. We are waking up to the important things in life from this enforced slowing-down phase. We are grateful for the simple things and realising we are social beings who need each other and benefit when we all come together and act as one.
Healing for the planet
This is a powerful time and a healing time in our history. It is a time we will never forget. The water is clearing, the pollution is clearing, animals and creatures are returning to our seas, we are acting in our communities to help each other and be in service to others who need help. We are spending more time with our loved ones at home.
What does it feel like to go through this shift? It feels healing, powerful and precious. A step forward for more love and caring in the world.
We don’t want the old normal
Let’s make this change positive and inspiring and not go back to the way things were but to go forward into a new way of living and dealing with each other: more love, more kindness, more understanding and gentle understanding of one another.
This is the strangest time of our lives and gives us the potential and opportunity for some great changes and transformation in this world and the way that we live.
Love to you all. One world. Let’s look after it and each other.
Note:
I wrote this post back in April 2020, two weeks after lockdown happened. I found it today while going through some old files. Previously unpublished.
Here we are a year later and the post sadly still holds true with many casualties and deaths and divorces and businesses collapsed in this surreal year.
I still want to publish this as it sums up my feeling of a year ago and makes me realise how much we have all endured during this locked up year.
