Where were you when the pandemic slowed the world to a crawl? I was sitting in an airplane on a tarmac in Atlanta Georgia, and I was reading Twitter with some sense of disbelief as I was finding out that the NCAA tournament was being canceled for 2020. Minutes later, I discovered the conference my team and I were traveling to was also being canceled before we even had arrived. At that moment, it was clear that the next 48 hours were not going to go as planned, and I can promise you that I was not expecting the next 365+ days to follow suit.
On a personal level, without disclosing details, I have been through much more acutely traumatic circumstances than what the last year has brought. That same could be said for my daughter whose junior year of high school was cut short and then followed up by a senior year unlike anything she would have imagined. It seemed we should have been more battle-tested for the past year than we were. What made it feel so different?
It eventually dawned on me. Every past trauma experienced by any member of my family had some semblance of privacy and containment. The impact of the events was mostly limited to members of our household. Even when our intimate world was in temporary chaos, at least we were comforted knowing the world as we knew it was waiting for us on the other side of our current obstacles. The pandemic changed all of that.
The pandemic forced us to collectively share a trauma in a way that had not been seen for over 100 years. It wasn’t a war overseas or a mass tragedy in another city. It was everywhere. It was present in our local grocery stores. It altered our Sunday church services and obliterated our outlets for entertainment. Stadiums were empty and the popcorn machines at every theater sat cold and idle. Even the parks where the children played fell silent for a time.
For the first time in a century, we couldn’t just manage our trauma within the confines of our family and friends. We couldn’t hang our hope on the knowledge that better days were right around the corner. This time, there were so many unknowns. No clear timeline for recovery. This time, the world needed shared responsibility across communities to heal and recover.
It’s June of 2021 and the world is beginning to reopen in many ways. As a world, country, and in our own communities, we are surviving this traumatic time together. We will have to take time to grieve the losses that have been experienced; lost time, lost milestones, and most tragically lost lives. We will also need to take time to rediscover our joy as well. Maybe they are joys that we rediscovered during the pandemic such as quiet time on the back patio with a book, writing new music on the piano, or baking a new dessert with your children. Maybe it’s rediscovering a joy you have not been able to experience in over a year; the sound of a collective gasp in a dark theater, the crack of the bat at the ballpark with friends, or the joy of live music in a crowd of strangers.
Regardless of what life brought your way over the past 15 months, please know you are not alone. The past 15 months of trauma was a shared experience in so many ways. We can get through this together by allowing ourselves to heal and find joy. If you are struggling with recovering or finding happiness, please do not hesitate to reach out for help from a friend, family member, or a professional.
As for me, I’m looking forward to seeing all of you at the movies, the ballpark, and concerts across the city!