Coronavirus — Dividing ‘The Nation’ Or Connecting People?

Story of the UK. Story of my household. And the story of my own.

I read this LinkedIn News editorial post for the UK a few days back that quoted ‘’Coronavirus is dividing the Nation,’’ talking particularly about the financial aspects of it. Of course, this created a lot of lively public debate and passionate polemics around the topic. Some people related to this, some were against it, some didn’t understand the point at all.

When I read it, I could relate to everyone.

How? Well, that’s how I think most of the time. I look at things (such as this situation), and I see it from many different perspectives. And so I could understand the people who agreed that:

1. Coronavirus Divided The Nation

Because I feel this every day.

I am an entrepreneur with a Coaching and Consultancy business running for about 1,5 years. Only that now it stopped running, and is just about surviving. It got impacted by the COVID indeed. And because one of my motto’s always been a ‘personal touch’ and ‘personal service’, that’s how I’ve been doing it and so didn’t take an early train to adapt myself to digital transformation and function online like most of the businesses in my niche do. Sadly, but that was my choice at that time.

Now, this means a lot of uncertainty about the future and a loss of financial security to an extent at least for now and no-one truly knows how long ‘the now’ is going to last. And what will happen once that the world is back to its ‘normal’? Meaning businesses starting to run again and customers adapting to it. As they may react with a new purchase behaviour, different from the existing one as a consequence of the transformation they’d undergo during this time.

And this, uncertainty and financial insecurity, is not only the case for entrepreneurs, business co-owners and partners, but all employees who had part-time, casual to fix-term terminable contracts and their jobs ended by a dismissal. Including those working for businesses that are practically bankrupt now.

All these people have not only to dig deep in their savings, but also get into debt to live through every new day.

For any person like this, financial security and stability which impacts how we see our present, prepare for and plan our future, have been compromised and represent only some blurry and abstract concept.

On the other hand, some people are almost untouched by this and can still feel relatively secure and stable. Two such examples are an inherent part of my household, my flatmates and friends, who luckily have stable jobs (in companies that are actually performing even better during COVID), and their income as employees has not been compromised in any way. They don’t face the same challenges, fears, and insecurity about the future as I do, at least not for the moment. (And I am truly happy for them.) On the same hand, it’s not easy for them to really understand and relate to all the difficulties I am facing, so it is not easy for me to relate and understand their positions. And as we’re sharing the same place, a sense of a division between us is quite apparent.

Such as my flatmates, there are many others who have not lost their jobs or businesses, keep receiving a regular income, managed to adapt to the crisis, or even prosper by it. And their outlook on this crisis and individual experience, including their feelings and thoughts differ significantly from the first group.

There also is a large group of people who are managing to save up significantly more these days as many of their expenses were lifted.

Such as those for travel, eating out and entertainment, self-care, beauty, and many other high-street services. On top of that, there are those, who take a great advantage of this time, being skilful investors. Such as my flatmate, who made a couple of hundreds (maybe over 1k now) in less than 2 months by smartly allocated investments.

The division is there, as I mentioned not only in the financial security aspect but also in the way we’re experiencing consequences of COVID on our daily lives.

Some people (such as me and despite knowing that my business is going through a downsize), feel they still somehow benefit from what adapting to this situation has given them. Such as the golden opportunity to slow down, switch off on some level, acknowledge all that we’ve been taking for granted before and reflect upon our values, or concentrate on our self-development and recharge mentally as well as physically. There’s a lot of value to be found by looking deep inside us, doing a personal reflection, understanding some key concepts such as how to be fully present, and live for the present moment, as well as working on our personal goals and towards self-improvement.

But not everybody sees it this way, especially if some heaviness or limitations are blinding the vision of the opportunity. Such as the financial burden, a fear of change, a fear of failure, a fear of the unknown, the future, and difficulty adapting to what feels so new and unpredictable. This must be particularly challenging for those who like and need certainty and stability, a life structured, and following a certain pre-designed plan. Any external changes then, not triggered by us and so uninvited, feel disturbing by default. Unless we master the skill of accepting them as a natural part of life.

However, this can hardly apply to people who experienced a loss of their loved ones during (and due to) COVID. That is an experience on its own, which can hardly be over-simplified by saying something pathetic.

Two of my very good friends actually lost their parents to COVID. I truly can’t imagine the gravity of pain this brings out. Dealing with a loss of loved ones is among the most traumatic experiences in life, even more, when it’s a completely unexpected event that even could have been somehow prevented. So naturally, there’s no way to expect anyone to look for some golden opportunities when they are facing a personal trauma due to an unexpected, heartbreaking loss.

I call myself lucky that I can even say that I am still somehow benefiting from this time and don’t feel the heaviness others are coping with.

So we’re divided, by our individual experiences, our perceptions, and our bank account balances.

2. Yet, We’re Connected As Humans

We don’t have to have the same kind of experience, security, and perceptions for a sense of connection. What connects us is a sense of humanity in all of us. And the ability to understand, sympathize to empathize with one another.

I don’t have to be in the same position as my flatmates (given by the nature of their job or their way of working), to connect to them. I haven’t faced any serious loss, yet I deeply sympathize with those who did. I appreciate the work done by our key workers — healthcare workers, policemen, transport drivers, retail shop workers, and all those who are contributing to our country to run as normally as possible, even though I am not one of them.

I am an introvert so being alone and on my own doesn’t affect me so much, giving me stress or anxiety. My flatmates though, are both extroverts, they need the outgoing lifestyle much more than me. And despite the differences and our preferences, we’ve not been as connected, supportive, and empathetic with each other before as we are now. We all face the same lockdown (at least) and its consequences for us all on the personal level are the same. And we connect to work through this together. We shop, cook, and eat together, respect each other’s work schedule and personal time, and do what we can to support each other to make this time more pleasant and bearable for us all.

Connection is on the very core, human level.

I feel this experience can finally teach us as a collective what being ‘human’ truly means. It’s sad on one hand that it takes a catastrophe to awaken a higher sense of connection between us, but at least we’re forming this awareness on a massive scale. And who knows what this will do with the Earth once we start living fully again!

I mean, once we — actually — start living fully. With the cognitions, we acquire during this time.

Like that we can do better, that we connect on a much deeper level and that if we actually work together towards the benefit of the collective (instead of individual), it benefits us individually as well.

Then we won’t need so many external ‘quick fixes and instant joys’ to fill our empty spaces. We’d be just fine to have a clear mind, heartfelt peace, and one another.

3. The Relativity Of Truth

Life is full of paradoxes, therefore, it’s difficult and unecessary to draw the ‘absolutes’.

I always believed in Einstein’s theory of relativity in the sense that it penetrates all being. So, following up on what I shared already, it’s useless to make simple conclusions. Such as, ‘this has divided the nation’ or, ‘this has connected people’ or ‘none of that applies’.

There’s a truth somewhere in the middle.

At some point in my life, I started to believe in this. That the middle way as a way of moderation, that between two extremes or the absolutes, is the best way.

And so yes, there’s a sense of division of some sort. And yes, there’s also a sense of connectedness. And yes, it equally all feels quite complex and confusing if we only look at or want to take one side.

Because we can only comprehend through our ‘frame of reference’, the level of consciousness and awareness we possess at the time, given by our knowledge and the position we’re taking while making the judgment. Our position may change at a different point later, influenced by a new feeling or experience that will rule our consciousness.

And that is perfectly fine. There doesn’t always have to be either right or wrong. And to even consider that, is incredibly freeing.

Thanks for your patient listening till the end.

With much love and my best wishes to you,

Lucy ❤

This is what I do when I am not contemplating COVID or writing. Connect With Me to have a personal conversation.

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