Recently, I dreamt of being on vacation: Chile’s beautiful sunset Valle Della Luna mixed with the slow waves from Playa Girón in Cuba.
It’s clear that I miss travelling. And not necessarily only the far-away-places but also briefly getting away for a weekend within Germany. The current situation makes travelling almost impossible, or let’s say: it involves risks that I am not willing to take.
There’s probably a ton of things people miss at the moment. After my dream, I asked the question in a forum and others mentioned things like going to a concert or comedy show, hike, help out in the community, or travel to China to train Qi Gong…
As the pandemic drags on and vaccinations are not yet at the speed as one might like (depending on the country you’re living in), I am thinking about alternative, “COVID-19-friendly” ways to live the things I miss.
I know, a lot of us are tired of not being able to go out, meet up with friends and family as we used to, having less time or too much time by ourselves. But I believe trying to catch some quality time with yourself or others at safe distance, will help us through the lows.
So instead of getting stuck in front of our screen(s), let’s take some time to dream about our next event or go outside for a walk to the park. In my case, the need to travel is also connected to spending time in nature. At least, we are lucky to have a few places nearby that you can take nice walks at. I try to combine it with taking my time to look at everything as if I see it for the first time. As I walk, I breathe in deeply and feel something falling off my shoulders.
When it comes to events like concerts or comedy shows: I know it’s harder to recreate the same feeling. A crowd coming together singing and laughing can truly give you goosebumps. What you could try though, is to watch together with friends online and wear headphones while you do it. There’s a few ways to get connected and watch the same thing these days. Yes, it’s screen time. But if you make it a social online event with some watching and some interaction it will likely be more fun.
There’s ways to create an island for yourself out of this pandemic. It might need a bit of creativity and willingness to look at things in an optimistic fashion. But it’s surely worth the try.
What do you miss? And how could you still do it? Write me at carolin at freedomxx.com