Due to the mandatory quarantining, social distancing, and the closing of many schools and businesses, there are many people feeling resentful of the isolation imposed on them. I would like to suggest that possibly we were more isolated before the pandemic. For the past several decades many moms have joined the workforce to make ends meet or to reach a level of success in their personal lives. Children have been dropped off at day cares while they worked, sometimes for ten or twelve hours a day. In between work and school, soccer and gymnastics, breakfast and bedtime, doctors appointments and birthday parties, families had little quality time together. Spouses, too, have been so busy working that there was little time for the people in their lives who really mattered. In many ways, this was true isolation. More time was spent with strangers than with loved ones. Their busy-ness allowed them the distraction from any guilt they may have felt for not spending more time with their own family.
The recent isolation of people in their homes, could in fact, be bringing them together. As people are forced to make changes and reinvent parts of their lives, they have the opportunity also, to re-evaluate what is most important. They may realize that their many wants and desires are merely burdens that they have been carrying around. They may decide to put those burdens down and enjoy the lightness and freedom that comes with living a life of simplicity.
