Two weeks have passed already for the Metro Manila quarantine. Today is the last day of March, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people all around the world who are fighting the epidemic. How exactly did we end up with this enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)? This happened due to the country’s response to the COVID-19 epidemic that has been a great concern globally.
A lot of people, including myself, are safe at home to observe social distancing – an action to help lessen the chances of spreading the virus. The initial epidemic turned into a global pandemic as assessed and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). Amidst this situation, Filipinos here and in various countries are fighting together to overcome this global health emergency. Despite these events now, many people in quarantine are finding ways to stay positive. I also try my best to remember the blessings I receive every day.
Even though I am at home, it is a blessing that I am with my family and we try our best to live with this current situation. There have been some changes in our household dynamics. It is difficult to stay with your family when you aren’t used to being with each other the entire day. There have been some misunderstandings and even arguments. Good thing is that we are a family and have to work on them gradually. It’s sad to think, however, that many Filipinos do not have the comfort of sleeping safely at home. I pray for them to be safe and to receive proper assistance from the government or private organizations.
It surely is difficult when uncertainties are all around us. Several worrisome scenarios may fill our minds during these times, especially whenever we read or watch the news (and seeing the numbers rise). In the past two weeks, I have found it difficult to stay away from hearing about the progress of the epidemic and the actions of the Philippine government. I couldn’t help looking up details to validate some of the reports to help my parents better understand the scenario. After all, not everyone in the family has the same ability in digesting information, especially when the most accessible for (and more familiar to) my parents are social media.
I don’t have much to give or have the best means to help out, but I’d love to try my best to reach out to people. Even you reading this, together we might find good organizations to support. It may even be a simple gesture of sharing our food with our neighbors or extending some support (financially or in-kind) towards the people who continue to brave the streets to earn. They do this, not because they are being stubborn or pasaway, but it is the only means they could put food on the table. Let’s find time to work on this proactively. Yes, we may be afraid for our health, still, let’s not forget to show compassion to those in need.
Aside from these concerns, there may be times that we also struggle with our troubles; worries in our heads. Acknowledge it and try to connect with people. It may not be easy, but it’s a start. If you have challenges in this aspect, try to divert your focus. In my case, as a response to not fill my mind with loads of anxiety, I use the time to work on my daily devotionals as well as some indefinitely postponed passion projects. This isn’t easy, especially when I also try to fit my workloads during the day. For this week, with almost all of my students’ works turned in, I try to start finding productive and meaningful tasks to help me cope with the current situation I am in. One of these is my attempt in bringing back my habit of reading. What books are good to begin with? Honestly, my only conditions are (1) it’s a book I haven’t read before, and (2) it’s one that I have readily available. To be honest, a lot of the books I have, contain darker content yet I try to read them with a different perspective to help me gain some sense of accomplishment. Perhaps in my next post, I can try to give you a glimpse of the books I have at hand and share some interesting insights about them. 🙂
Yakapin 