From tomorrow, I will be working from home and I am as prepared for it as I will ever be. I have a desk and chair, I have cleared up my room and made it as homely and officely as possible and I have put out pictures of my family on my desk for virtual love and support. Working from home was something I had been dreading for weeks, but now going to uni seems like the much less palatable option. Our uni has not closed down yet, and I had initially decided that I would keep going until it did. But, now I have changed my mind. A part of the reason is because I am trying to be a responsible young person who might not be at risk, but who doesn't want to be a carrier of the virus. Also, this is an extraordinary time. To pretend that it is not and to try to carry on like everything is okay just because my life hasn't been affected directly feels callous to me. I don't trivialize the concept of sacrifice by claiming my working from home is such, so what's a good word for what I am doing? Acknowledging the gravity of the situation? I don't know. In any case, introverts like me will weather isolation better than others. Indeed, I won't miss some of the people in my PhD cohort and I am looking at this as a hiatus from them.
As I was meditating today, hot tears rolled down my cheek as I thought about the people who are less fortunate than me, in terms of health, money and responsibilities, and how their life is likely to change in the coming weeks. I have never prayed in my life and don't believe in a God, but I will be holding them in my thoughts every day and will be praying to the universe for their well-being.
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