With every physical trauma comes an emotional one. The sudden surge of Covid-19 forced people into quarantine and instilled a sense of fear of our most basic need - social interaction. Most of us had to be separated from our loved ones and refrained from touching one another as a means to avoid any possibility of spreading the virus. Ironically, while we were all separated from one another, we collectively went through the emotional experience of the epidemic; an experience of fear of connection and consequently – loneliness.
I remember the first month or so being quite productive. People all over social media began posting home workouts and creative activities to keep busy and “beat” the experience, me being one of them. But then collectively, it went down-hill from there. After a few months of quarantine and in personally sitting with my loneliness, I realized how much I am not in control, and how much time I spend distracting myself and shying away from deep rooted feelings of loneliness. These feelings were possibly always there. Yet like many of us do, I created a life and a routine that distracted me just enough away from it.
The pandemic may have enhanced or made us realize our sense of loneliness in the world. But did it really manufacture it? Instead, I believe it was always there, possibly waiting for a global virus to bring it up to the surface in order to give it a chance to dissolve.
The nature of today’s world revolves around a fast-pace, on-the-go, individualistic lifestyle: one that strives for status and power with a supporting mantra of more is more and “if it doesn’t add to my economic growth, I have no time for it”. In Ayruveda, the primordial cause of disease is forgetting our true nature as spirit. Unfortunately, by living a lifestyle that is primarily focused on the desires of the ego, that of status, power, economic growth alongside the illusion of separation – we have forgotten our true nature.
We forgot the nature of our true essence, that we are in fact social beings and require connection to make us feel safe and secure. In creating a global culture of individualism fueled by the desires of the ego, we run under the illusion of separateness. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that we are in fact the same for we are created by a single Creator and in dismissing our inherent unity, our inherent sense of oneness, we feel separate and thus alone in the world.
Both men and women are bombarded on a daily basis with messages of inadequacy. Billion-dollar industries operate today by sending out a message that we are not enough, and we need to acquire material items or a certain look in order to be enough. In forgetting the unity within the Self; that we are birthed whole gives rise to feelings of a lack of self-worth, self-esteem, and self-love, once again creating a sense of loneliness. The overarching theme that reveals itself in this story is that in separation we find loneliness.
The journey of Covid came along with multiple messages and lessons. It taught us to value slowing down, taking time off, and to not take for granted the intimate connections we have in our lives. On an emotional and spiritual level, it brought about a deep sense of loneliness that was in fact always there, for we have forgotten our true nature long before and in knowing so, we now have an opportunity to remember and come back to our true nature once again.
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