Today it won't be an article about administration or even about relaxing and spouting my usual nonsense. No, today I'm going to talk about how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting me personally.
A weariness
Mentally, if I had to analyze myself, I think I'm like in the beginning of a depression. The days are the same, and just to get up is more and more complicated. At the same time, when you just have to reach the dining room desk to go to work, it's not very motivating. The days look the same with work, sport, sleep... waiting most of the time for the weekend to organize things to do outdoors. Oh yes! Why not online events you say? Well, let's be honest... the appointments on Zoom were fun for a few months... When you shut down your computer and are home alone with a few drinks in your nose, it gets boring fast.
Lack of social interaction at work
First of all, the first thing I was affected by was the lack of social interaction. If indeed I was lucky enough to keep my job compared to many others, I have been working from home on my computer for a year now. The meetings are few and far between, and this considerably reduces the social aspect that one normally encounters in a company. I often feel a bit alone in front of my computer. Damn! I don't know about you, but now I've such in English because of this. But also because of the restriction of events: I really miss meeting new people. Because of the situation of keeping a restricted social bubble, I very rarely meet new people and one is almost afraid to propose hikes on Facebook groups (even if there is a respect of distance) for fear of being judged.
Being single
It's true that this is a point that isn't often addressed. But like some people I am single, and the Covid certainly did not make things any better or even worse. As a general rule, it is necessary to meet new people or to widen one's circle of acquaintances (which is complicated today). As the virus can be present everywhere, sometimes we don't dare to propose to meet, and sometimes we propose but we receive the answer to wait until a crisis is over. We feel like we are facing a wall. The problem is that Covid has accentuated the effect of online "dating" and reinforced the dating applications. So yes we meet virtually very often, but I... I really have a hard time and it has nothing to do with face to face where we can more easily feel the person with whom we communicate.
The restriction of travel
It's actually quite funny for someone who likes to travel and whose name is very much part of the site, not to travel. But I didn't know that I was going to create my site a few months before a worldwide pandemic. But even if we are very limited on it, it still allowed me to discover more about Ontario.
The lack of family
The problem is that who says travel restriction, says restriction to see his family. So yes, you tell me, it was possible to come back at any time but with a limited time of vacations, and the quarantine to realize or the racket of the government for the hotels of confinement, so many sticks in the wheels to be taken into account I would like to see my parents again, but also my sister and my cousins with whom I feel very close.
A government that makes me feel guilty
So OK we have to be careful and everything... but when you have a government that is a weathervane in its decisions, you run into disaster. To open the stores and terraces to close everything again in the following week. Or even promising things that are not kept in the days that follow, I understand the weariness of many. When at Christmas, I decide not to leave because of the trips so that at the last moment the government decides that people do not celebrate Christmas. I feel betrayed for having respected the rules too much and so I decide to see people from my social bubble for my own mental health.
The problem of visas
I think I'm going to speak for a lot of people here. My visa ends in September so I still have time to get my Permanent Residence validated. But many are in a precarious visa situation. Many came on a WHV during the crisis and simply cannot apply for Express Entry for a year of Canadian experience when the job market is sabotaged by Covid. Because of this, I have seen many expatriates leave for their home country, running out of visas and at the same time money for some. This makes for a lot of goodbyes that can be heartbreaking, especially when the departure is unwanted.
But I have faith that this situation will come to an end. I hope that governments will learn from their meddling and that people will continue to wash their hands when they leave the bathroom, even if it is not in covid time.
And you, how are you doing ?
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