Coronima

It’s a play on the Hokkien expletive “你妈 ” (which kind of scolds your mom). In this case, it’s really just cursing at the coronavirus… I guess?

Disclaimer: No moms were harmed in the writing of this post. #

Work from home.
Quarantine.
Stay home.
Social Physical distancing.
Mask up.
Hoarding of toilet paper.
Essential services.
Circuit Breaker (CB).
Isolation.
.
.
… the list of words trending at the moment surely goes on.

I have decided to pen down my thoughts on this whole episode so that I can come back and revisit the emotions stirring up in my heart at the present moment.

Which in 1 -2 years’ time, will no longer be considered as ‘the present’. Funnily, it’ll be considered as an event of the past.

Something that will be taught in history class.

Something that we will tell kids born after 2020, “Back then in those days, we had this crazy virus worldwide that brought us all to our knees (and graves) …” And just like that, I am instantly upgraded to being a ‘boomer’ too.

They’d probably be classifying us as “millennials” or “Gen Y” though.
( insert scoffs )

Ah, the irony of life.

Anyway, this whole COVID-19 pandemic has been so severe that it’s paralyzing many Nations’ economy. Disrupting global supply chains. Causing psychological anxiety and fear. Brewing social issues like domestic violence…

• Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues – closed off from worshipers. We’ve had to celebrate Holy Week online in a virtual manner… which surely was a first….

• Roads, Railways, Airport runways – devoid of all life and movement.

• Buses, Taxis, MRTs – constantly on the go, but with a harrowing silence.

Another thing that this pandemic has taught us all, is that when push comes to shove, people’s true colours start to show.

We have the ugly: #

• America’s President constantly being ridiculous
  Seriously though, even Bill Gates has hit back.

• Americans just being Americans
  Please just read the comments embedded in this Twitter post by Laura Ingraham who is supposedly someone who delivers news to the people of America (lol joke’s on them, really)

Singapore too, was not spared of the interesting ugly side that kept surfacing what seemed like every other alternate day:

• Blood trail at Jurong West
• Chinatown Riot
• Punggol murder

In the past 2 months of “lock down”, we’ve seen people harass public officers and volunteers. We’ve seen people remove their masks to spit and sneeze in public. We’ve seen people pranking food delivery riders and not paying up.

The list of ugliness honestly goes on and on…………

But that’s what most mainstream media/news wants us to believe in.
Bad news makes for juicy news.

Where would the selling point be if we all only preached good news?

Edit: I wrote till this section in Apr 2020. It is now 19 May 2020. More than a month has passed, yet it only felt like yesterday. Where did all that time go? #

Personal reflections from the COVID-19 global pandemic #

One day, if my grandchildren manage to somehow find this blog of mine, I’d like them to know that I have personally went through a whipping effect throughout the past 2 months as Singapore undergone a “lock down” - i.e. the Circuit Breaker.

What does a whipping effect mean?

It means this -

There were days where I was on a high.

“I could actually get used to living this livelihood of solitude! Not eating yong tau foo? What’s the big deal! Working from home is quite good what. Can wake up late and not dress up!”

Wrong

It was a big deal.

A couple of days later, the moodiness suddenly crept up and into my life. I found no motivation to work. I found no excitement in the little things that I used to enjoy doing - eating became a chore (it was always the same old food options here at Tampines anyway).

I eventually found no meaning in life at one point. It was scary to suddenly lose sight of this…

Of course, as you know, churches were closed off since February 2020. And my spiritual life took a huge hit… Spiritually, I am as dry as sand in the desert. My heart is closed off and is as hard as a sedimentary rock.

Everything seemed to be working to my disadvantage.

I was feeling homesick as if I were still stuck in Leuven. I missed my family back home so much. I missed mom’s amazing cooking. I missed my C-pillow and bolster. I missed the conversations I could have back at home. I miss the familiarity, and a space I could call my own.

I hated being in Tampines.

And then one day, all the pent up frustrations and emotions hit the fence.
I broke down. I cried uncontrollably till my eyes were puffy. I still remember that day before I headed out for my evening jog, my FIL told me in Mandarin, “Take it easy, ok? Go for a walk and clear your mind.”

As the whipping graph shows, with every downward bend, comes an upward trend.

I gradually learnt how to deal with the stress of living with my in-laws.

So what if my MIL is always peering over my shoulder to watch me cook instant noodles or wash the dishes? So what if I have to time when to use the toilet so that there are no schedule clashes? So what if I have to wear modest home-wear and pyjamas?

Nobody else in the house seemed to be suffering from this except me. That was when I realized I had imprisoned myself in my own mind.

How silly!

I could have been free, enjoying the days from end-to-end. But all the pressure of learning to live with “new” peculiarities seemed to be a 1-way street. Hence, I decided to change my mindset.

For example, whenever my MIL peered over my shoulders to watch over my cooking, I told myself that I was a participant in Master Chef, and I will not be stressed out.

I learnt how to say “no” to random cooking which I did not want to eat.
I am not that horrible a person (yet) haha. I merely said ‘no’ to porridge for lunch, but I ate it for dinner ok!

At the end of the day, we all had our personal battles to fight in the last few months. But the time off provided us all with a great opportunity to renew our thoughts and gaze upon what is truly important in life. Everything in this world is fleeting, and honestly, what we used to think as “essential” in the past, is probably no longer “essential” and important now.

This time off was a blessing for us all to reinvigorate or refresh ourselves.

Some of the key takeaways from this CB: #

• Realizing the importance of family bonding time
• Appreciating true and grounded friendships (people who are emotionally invested in you) - Side note: a huge thanks to Choobs and Sammy for delivering stay-home care packages to us in Tampines! 😍
• Old habits forced to change anew (e.g. people coughing and sneezing like nobody’s business in public spaces are frowned upon by society now, thankfully!)
• Trust in your loved ones (e.g. your spouse) ; Trust also in God
• Backward/Old school method in dealing with things must pave way for new-age technologies
• Small changes in a daily routine can surely brighten up people’s day (e.g. bought a kaya jar and my FIL was so happy for days!)
• Giving yourselves a break from tasks that were pressing down hard on your shoulders is not a sin (once CB was announced, FF and I literally stopped the back-to-back weekend house planing and sourcing. It’s great cos we finally got the chance to do other stuff that we’ve been intending to do for the longest time)

To end it off, I was reading my bible one night, and came across this quote that sums this whole thing up beautifully -

No one must say: “What is that? Why is it so?, for everything, is created for a purpose. #

Sirach 39:21

Truly, this coronavirus came to teach the world something. And I too, had lots to learn from it.

Did you? xx.