When This is All Over

I was going through my newsfeed on Facebook this morning and I saw that people in Israel can now go mask-free when they are outdoors. People are basically back to normal now and have no worries about this pandemic. I envy them so much! At the rate things are going here in our country it will probably take a while to get to that level. Maybe a year – or more. I’m hoping it would not be as bad as I am thinking but these days, I’m more of the hope for the best but expect the worst kind of gal. 

Still, those photos from Israel made me think: what would I want to do when this is over? When people are allowed go out to see friends and family again and be able to go mask-free without worrying about a virus that can take your life? What would YOU want to do?

For me, the things I want are simple:

I want to see my friends and family. I want to share a meal with them. I want to hug and be able to see them smile when we are together. I have missed that so much!

I want to go out. I want to travel to places that I have always loved, and to places that I have never been to. I want to go out and be able to enjoy the places without being worried about getting sick and possibly dying from it. Nothing fancy, just being about to see different places because I have been just in two towns these past two years: the place where I live and the place where I work. Seeing someplace else would be really refreshing. 

I want to go to the grocery. Yes, it is weird I know since most people still do that now. But my family and I have been taking extra precautions since my mother is a senior citizen and I have a whole army of health conditions, so we try our best not to shop at crowded places. Once this is all over, I would love to go back to the monthly grocery routine I have with my sister, so that we can cook the food that we want to eat and not have to make do with what we could buy from the smaller stores near our home. Grocery shopping is one of my guilty pleasures, and I want to be able to enjoy that again. 

Image by นิธิ วีระสันติ from Pixabay

I want to take a vacation. A long one. I am so exhausted from the stress and pressures of working during a pandemic. Working at the office with a lot of people and working at home where even more is expected of me since most people assume working from home means we are not working. I want to go somewhere with my family where we can relax and not have to worry about anything and just enjoy the place and the food and the entire experience. I would love to have that happen when this is all over.

The thing about this whole experience is that I have discovered the things that truly matter to me. Some of the things that I thought were important are no longer as valuable as I thought they were. That is why the things that I want are not that glamorous or luxurious, but more about enjoying the company of friends and family and doing things that would be beneficial to my mental health. 

What about you? What do you want to do when this is all over? Who do you want to see? What do you want to experience?