When you can’t go out, go in. I have no pressing reason to go out so I’m using this time to study and meditate; to revisit and re-evaluate my priorities. It isn't easy. For every person who is struggling with loneliness someone else is being driven mad by having to share their space with others and having no time and space to think; or is filled with anxiety at having to work every day in unsafe circumstances. Pretty much everyone is fearful.
We need to cultivate acceptance, and to surrender to circumstances beyond our control. We also need to move away from fear of the unknown future and try to find joy and fulfilment in the present. The future is always uncertain and there are never any guarantees (pace death and taxes). We are somewhat inured to this by the illusions of wealth and comfort, by the seeming stability of health, homes and regular incomes. For many of us, much of that has been swept away and we now need to adapt to change.
How we adapt is up to us. We can make ourselves miserable with regrets over the past; wishing we’d saved a bit more, visited our relatives while we still could or taken that foreign trip, or we can worry ourselves into a frenzy of anxiety over the future. How long will the credit last? How long before I can work again, walk again, see parents/children/friends? Or we can spend time in the present; being fully present to ourselves. Taking time away from the hustle and bustle to spend time with a book or gazing at the sky. Taking the time to just be.
Be quite still. Listen to your heartbeat and watch your breath. Be present in the moments between beats and between breaths. Have the courage to live now and all will be well, because now is eternity and we are where we always were.