Life in time of Coronavirus…

You all must be “sick and tired” of reading the word Coronavirus….

I am…

Some of us are even suffering of anxiety when reading the news… and here I am including myself…

However, I could not pass this period without registering an article which probably will be the most difficult period of humanity during my lifetime.

The purpose of this blog is and has always been to register my interests… to bring to you what I find interesting…. to share my discoveries and experiences….

This has not changed and this is the only article I will write about this period.

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you have seem my various posts regarding my quarantine days.. The posts are short and spontaneous… showing my day to day… challenges and successes… There I don’t expand much… pictures say more than 1000 words.

But what do I really think of this period of quarantine?

Everything has two sides… Positive and Negative… I would rather focus on the positive…

But… quickly on the negative ones… we all know… the economy… the depression, the countless deaths…

The POSITIVE now…

When was the last time you had the opportunity to stay home with your family?? I am not saying on holidays, traveling… distracting…

I am saying… HOME…

Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner… day after day, after day? Playing board games, talking, hearing, fighting, reconciling and being happy again?

Well… I haven’t… no shame to say…

I am married with two kids… and pretty much every weekend and school holidays, we go out and do something… I think since I was on maternity leave… I don’t spend so much time at home, and even if at that time I used to go out with my baby which now it is not something feasible to do…

When I look back I almost feel I was another person… running like mad… out and about… always behind the clock…

Not that I am not busy now… Oh hell, I am… I am working full time, I am helping my kids with their schooling, I am cooking, cleaning, organising…

I sent my nanny home… she is over 50 and I did not wish her to take the risk to come and go… but that means… it is me, myself and moi… doing it all, all day long, 24/7 for the last 3 weeks… my husband helps… I must point out…

But… life now has a different color…

I am asking myself the reason of all this… Nothing is by chance… I know that there was always the risk, of something like this happening and it has happened before… but still…

My takeout is that we must learn from this. The world was going toooo fast… people were not reflecting anymore… we are/were running around like headless chicken with our phones in our hands, answering emails and messages all the time. We were no longer talking, discussing across the table… but only through chats and messages.

This came to slow us down… to make us reflect… to make us appreciate what we have, our families, our friends, our homes, our home made food… to make us appreciate what really matters… teachers, doctors, science… rather than football players, instantaneous celebrities and politicians…

This came to change the way we do things… to show that we can work from home… to show that we can balance personal and professional lives… to show that working mums can work from home (everybody now can)… to show that we can have gastronomic food home… to show that we can consume at the local grocery shop… to show that we can live local and not only global.

To show that we are all equal… regardless of sex, age, gender, bank account balance, nationality… we are all on the same boat.

Also, to appreciate freedom, which we took for granted and now we longer have…

To appreciate nature… the blue sky which we almost never remember to look at…

To appreciate the UNIVERSE… above of us… sending us a message….

Look at the sky, even if through the window… smell the flowers, if you have access to them… listen to the birds…, connect with your loved us… the Universe is giving us a wake up call… a gift… a warning…

Embrace the opportunity!

xx Valentina