Keep your chin up – these dark days will eventually pass
AS YOU may have been aware, yesterday was officially The Most Depressing Day Of The Year. Yes, the third Monday in January has long been dubbed ‘Blue Monday’, usually for good reason. Despite the concept being the invention of a commercial company’s marketing team – as most of these things tend to be – it actually has a degree of merit.
We’re all broke after Christmas and this is the time when the bills for the festive period come thudding through the letterbox like little harbingers of economic doom. On top of that, the weather is always dank and miserable and many of us have to wait another couple of weeks before we get paid.
It’s a concept that first arrived in 2005 but this year is different because Blue Monday of the 2021 vintage will have plenty of competition from all the other days to see which is the most depressing of them all.
I wrote in these pages back in December that we needed, as a nation and a people, some sort of a semblance of a normal Christmas. Having already bounced through two lockdowns since the previous March, the national mood was as gloomy as the skies above and everyone needed some sort of a break. The general consensus amongst many of us was we could use a few weeks over the festive period to have some sort of a break.
It was never going to be the same as an ordinary Christmas – the massive increase in sales of turkey crowns rather than the whole bird was a stark reminder that, for many people, the traditional family Christmas dinner was no longer a viable option – but we were all desperate for some holiday spirit and we were prepared to deal with the consequences in January.
Well, those consequences, just like the debts and the annual terrifying tax bill that arrive at this time of the year, have landed and they have landed hard.
There’s a weird mood of despondency in the air, and that mood certainly wasn’t improved by the announcement over the weekend that we are looking at this lockdown lasting until April.
Frankly, at this stage and given the astonishing spike in numbers which sees us sitting on the world’s naughty step in terms of infection rates, it’s looking like April may be an optimistic guesstimate. Other public health officials have suggested it could be anything up to a year before we get back to the old normal.
But we will get there, even if it doesn’t seem that way at the moment. One of the things which struck me over the last few weeks is how even those people who had managed to maintain a stiff upper lip during the lockdowns of last year have reacted to this current situation. Morose is one word to describe it. Downbeat is another, but ultimately many of us are just utterly cheesed off with the whole rigmarole.
But here’s the thing – even those of us who are cheesed off realise there aren’t really any other viable alternatives. There’s now the broad realisation we are in the middle of the storm and if we’re not careful we could make it even worse.
Of the few neighbours I’ve been able to speak to – through a mask, from the other side of the pavement – there seems to be one common thread: they’re all obeying the restrictions even though they don’t like them. But they’re also finding their daily routine has completely changed.
They miss their old way of life and the things they took for granted are the things they miss the most.
For some of us, it’s the simple pleasure of wandering into a cafe or a bar and sitting down to read the paper in peace. Frankly, the memories of sitting at the bar in my local and lazily flicking through the Indo while the barman gratuitously insults my latest column now seem like a distant, foggy dream.
For others, it’s going out at the weekend and letting their hair down. Many of my foodie friends are plaintively hankering after the days when they could check out the latest hot new venue or simply head up to their local restaurant to order the same dish they always order.
In other words, we’re all desperate for the normal little things in life which used to brighten our day. The things which used to bring us some comfort. Ultimately, comfort is what it’s about. In strange and scary times we crave the things which are settled and reliable.
Hell, I’ve even started eating fish finger sandwiches for the first time since I was a kid. My quest for comfort food has been mirrored in the TV programmes I watch and the books I’m reading.
Half the shows are repeats from a happier and more stable time, although I was almost surprised to realise I’ve been delving back into novels such as Stephen King’s The Stand and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Apocalyptic fiction has a certain resonance at the moment which seems to fit the mood.
But regardless of what you’re eating, reading or watching, the most crucial thing for all of us to remember in these dark days – literally and metaphorically – is that this will pass.
It’s going to take longer than any of us expected and the ramifications will still be with us long after the virus has faded into memory.
Until then, the only thing any of us can do is keep our chins up, our wits about us, and try to maintain some degree of positivity. That may be easer said than done but we really don’t have much choice.
Be kind. Don’t snitch on people if you think they’ve walked a greater distance than they should. Keep checking on those neighbours.
Even if the current lockdown ends at the projected date, we have been living with this pandemic for more than a year and it has certainly changed how we live our lives. Will we ever go back to the way we were, as some people have wondered? Well, why not? This is a tough time for all but we have to keep one thing in mind – we will come out the other side.
Flicking through the Indo while the barman gratuitously insults me now seems like a distant dream