Sometimes when I look back at what the world has gone through this past two years, I must admire the resilience of humanity. Never in our lifetimes would we have imagined the world almost coming to a standstill with a global pandemic.

Businesses have had to stop and close; airlines have been grounded; schools closed; sports events cancelled; imports and exports have been restricted; friends and family have been kept at a distance; and worse, we have seen a catastrophic loss of too many lives all around the world.  Hollywood has written about this in many blockbuster movies; and yet we could never have imagined that it would become our reality. 

And yet we keep moving forward.

We have homeschooled children; adapted our homes to become our workplace; we have increased our technology intelligence to stay connected; online shopping has replaced the high street, and safety has become our priority when travelling or socialising or doing anything that involves interaction with others.

This is our new normal.

Most importantly the spirit of Christmas is still all around us. Our family reunions may be a little smaller this year, but we will still celebrate.  We must have hope for a healthy and more positive year ahead, and so we continue forward with our meals, our carols, our lights, our decorations and of course the gift of giving. Distance and safety measures cannot stop this. In many ways it brings a new meaning to Christmas, being thankful for the small things and the people who really matter.

Let’s hope for new beginnings.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  Whatever you are celebrating, make it a wonderful time this year!

I’m frustrated. I’m exhausted. I’m done!

Anyone else? It can’t be just me??

I still often wonder how we have got to this place? How are we still here? Why can’t we make this all stop? It feels like a bad dream that we just can’t wake up from.

My sensible side, however, tells me that it is not that easy. This is not going away. A pandemic like this can’t simply disappear. So now we need to somehow find a way to live with it, live through it, protect ourselves, and as the English say, ‘carry-on’.

Is it that easy? Well I’m not a scientist, but I would do anything at this point (I mean anything) to find a way to live without worries of lockdowns, restrictions, testing, masks, border controls and more. I’m sure most of us, all around the world are feeling this exact same way.

What I worry about most right now, is how this is all impacting our younger generations. My son is only five years old, and yet he already lectures me on hand-washing protocol, use of anti-bac and social distancing. He worries about contact with his friends, and he continually talks about the fact that he cannot get on a plane to see his Nana in Australia.

My son tells me it is all because of the ‘big germ’ and he gives me these wild explanations and imaginations of different ways we could kill the germ. My absolute favourite was his idea to ‘poo on the germ’. He told me that his poo was so stinky it could kill anything. This could be true! Though, as I try to tell him (through my muffled giggles) that this can’t happen, and while it is a great idea, it is not realistically possible, it makes me quite sad. I want to fix this (all of it) for my imaginative five year old. I want to find the solution that makes sense for a child who wildly brings up new and creative ways to fix the world’s problems. If only it was this easy right?

Imagine if we adults were all five year olds? I would love to rewind time, to just over two years ago, to a world where our five year olds ruled. Perhaps, just perhaps, their creative imagination would have seen a different today. We can only dream of course.

Regardless, in my son’s world, the germ is something we live with now. It doesn’t bother him. He wears his mask when he needs to, and he follows the rules. Maybe that’s something we can all learn as adults?

To end off the title of this blog. When will this all end? It won’t. But we need to find our ‘five year old’ inside to keep moving forward. We need to follow the rules, and hope that together we can protect ourselves and each other.

We will conquer tomorrow together.