Panic stations

So here we are again, another Christmas effectively ruined by Covid. Although this time, nobody has actively ruined it, except for our own fear and panic. Ok yes Omicron is here. Omicron seems to be incredibly transmissible, but all evidence seems to show that it’s relatively mild. Oh my god. Let’s panic. Let’s shut life down. Why all the panic? I was really looking forward to Christmas this year. It just magically fell on a Saturday which meant that Monday and Tuesday would be bank holidays. This is the dream ticket. Normally we do both families on Christmas and Boxing Day which gets kind of intense, but entirely fun and something we all really look forward to. But then having to go to work the day after Boxing Day sucks. So actually having two bank holidays to recover is beyond awesome. But of course this year, we have the threat of yet another lockdown looming over us. It’s dismal. But still, we get to have Christmas right? Wrong. Our Christmas day plans have been cancelled. Why? Because of fear of a virus. And I am a mixture of sad and mad. I don’t even know what to think anymore. I don’t want to catch Covid. I don’t want to transmit Covid. I don’t want my parents or kids to have Covid. But the reality is Covid is here. Are we supposed to live in fear forever now? Everybody who needs to be vaccinated and boosted has been vaccinated and boosted. And if you haven’t been vaccinated and boosted, then go and do that. So what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to cancel life forever more? Never go out and see friends or do anything? I don’t know. It seems like that’s what people want to do. They want us to do nothing. And sometimes that’s fine and I like doing nothing, but it can’t be the default position. It’s not mentally healthy. It’s not mentally healthy to be told to test twice a day, when we have no symptoms. It’s not healthy to make us feel like our kids are disease vectors and the only way they can be seen by people they love is if they are locked up at home not interacting with the world. What is all of this doing to our sense of safety and security? We are social animals. That’s how we were built. We were built to interact. We all know that loneliness is a proper health issue. So why are we ignoring the mental health benefits of interaction. Anyway, just my rant for the day.