The COVID-19 pot of gold

By Kerryn Vaughan

29th March 2020

I’m sure I'm not the only one reading daily takes on COVID-19. Thoughts on zoonotic diseases jumping from bat to pangolin to human, New World Order, population reduction, specific governments conducting biological warfare, even terrorism. Not to mention Mother Nature taking back, Nostradamus’ prediction of the death of this world and the re-birth of the new, coincidence & bad luck, and even alien invasion.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think most of these are very possible, and personally, I’m acutely interested in the origin, reason and timing of this chaotic pandemic, but right now my absolute priority is protecting the people I love.

I’ve also seen comments that this is a hoax and that the numbers are all fabricated to perpetuate the fear that is so rife at the moment, and that it’s a way to distract us from what certain governments are trying to do behind our backs. Again, no reason why these can’t be true. In fact I will never trust any government! 

But a lot of this latter group of people are also the ones being reckless in their behaviour and risking the lives of others. Maybe they are somewhat right, but the fact is people are dying no matter what the truth is, despite claims by some of these people that nobody has actually died from COVID-19.

Many are saying we should believe science, but others are saying that the scientists are not telling us the truth. Scientists are even contradicting each other. So how do we know what to believe?

We are all experiencing fear, anger, sadness, confusion, isolation, and uncertainty about the future, and all of these feelings are contributing to panic. Some are keeping busy helping whoever they can, while others are merely trying to survive. We are all just clinging to hope, and life is as far from normal as we could ever have imagined.

But I’m choosing to do what I think is the right thing. While I am trying my hardest to resist being drawn into the fear mongering, I am doing what is being asked of me and staying at home, only venturing out for essential items.

As I write this I want to acknowledge the challenges that staying at home brings to some families, as well as those who have essential jobs and without these people our world would collapse entirely. To all of you - I take my hat off.

In our family, we have elderly and immune comprised people that I care about greatly, and I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe. When this is over, those of us who ‘obeyed’ might be wrong, and a surprising truth might be unveiled, but I’m not taking the risk. I would rather be proven wrong than the reckless be proven wrong.

But ultimately most of us would agree that it really is time to review the way we live, regardless of who is right and who is wrong, and regardless of the above mentioned individual theories, views and opinions.

Frankly we are drowning. We have long driven ourselves into a way of living that is truly becoming unsustainable. We are trashing the earth, animals and ourselves at such break-neck speed that there is no chance of any recovery or rejuvenation.

Right now is considered the best time to be alive, if we exclude the last few months. We are blessed with never-ending opportunities, yet loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide are all sky-rocketing. Something is terribly, terribly wrong.

If we take the internet for example, everything is at our fingertips. We tap and we have all we want or need just like that. I love social media because it allows me instant connection to colleagues around the globe with no delay other than the other person’s beauty sleep. It’s fabulous!

But is it really satisfying our deepest and genuine needs and wants, or does it just keep us bandaided on the surface while we resist questioning the harm we allow it to do because we are too afraid to really check in?

Cyber bullying is the first thing that comes to mind as a negative. Kids can’t just leave all that at school - it follows them home and is relentless through the night - driving them to hate themselves. And yes people can say that kids shouldn’t have phones in the bedroom, but have you ever tried to pry a phone from the hands of a teenager?!

Female news readers and journalists are hounded non-stop, some reporting trolling by the thousands every single day. We have gone too far. Our behaviour is driving us backwards as a society and as a global collective.

Further, we are demanding more of each other with the immediacy of information and actions, and  demanding more of ourselves. We are bombarded non stop with information and advice about how we should be living our lives, and we are pulled in every direction every day.

We used to have to physically haul our butts down to the newsagency and buy a magazine in order to feel crap about ourselves, and in particular our appearance. Now we just tap and there it is!

Around me I see people burning out everyday, myself included. Several hardships presented themselves last year and I couldn’t wait for 2020 as I was positive it would be a better year. I was so wrong! 2020 has been one disaster after the other. Maybe that's a mindset thing, but I'm so tired.

Some days I just want to jump off the supersonic fast-spinning mouse wheel and take a chance on breaking my neck, but at the very least I just want to scream “STOOOOOPPPPPP!!”

None of us like what is happening at the moment with COVID-19, and some are so angry with the government for locking us in our homes like prisoners.

But why don’t we take this opportunity to reflect and take a good look at the way we have personally conducted ourselves and lived our lives, and ask ourselves if what we have been doing is actually serving us. By that I mean physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

Are we pushing so hard against a brick wall, continuing to clamber on the pile of rubble we’ve created because we don’t have time to deal with it, that we can’t even see the door just 2 feet away? What if we just take these few weeks to sit back, relax, review, and decide what really matters, then look up again after we’ve had some time to breathe. 

We might just find that when we do look up we can clearly see that door we didn’t see before. Maybe the door will be the only thing we see, and maybe if we open it, it’s where we will find the pot of gold we have been looking for all along. Maybe then we can walk out on to the stage that is truly ours - the one that enables us to live the life we are supposed to live.

Me - I have found my music again and suddenly everything feels better and the struggle is easing.

Use this time to slow down and reflect on how valuable you are, how valuable life is, and how much you value those you love. We may never get this opportunity again, so go with the flow and restore - the world needs you on the other side of this, just as imperfectly perfect as you are.

Kerryn Vaughan is the author of ‘Magnificent Kids!’ and ‘Get Off The Bench!’, founder of One Planet Classrooms, and co-founder of Girls With Hammers.