A Period Of Adjustment

All of us did our best at the beginning of Covid-19, it affected and challenged all of us in different ways. Emotionally, mentally, physically, financially and spiritually. Life as we knew it changed for the foreseeable future, perhaps forever. Before Covid-19, we never thought twice about the germs which could be spread through the handles of plastic grocery basket. We never thought twice about using our hand to press the button at street light. There were so many things we did not think about that we now think about daily. I imagine this is how Adam and Eve felt after being evicted from the Garden of Eden - two bites of forbidden fruit and there they were in a new place where they were afraid, vulnerable and wishing they could go back the way they came. Instead they had to undergo a period of adjustment, learning about their new environment through failing and succeeding - becoming stronger emotionally, mentally and physically so that in time they were not afraid, they were brave. 2020 was the year that everybody went through a period of adjustment and in recent months, it feels like the world has come back to life. Including me. Looking back, sometimes it felt like I had slept through a great deal of 2020 because we moved to the other side of the Brisbane River and on the other side was where my stomping grounds had been for twenty years. I just felt there was so much more of me there than there was in my new home, it made me feel sad and out of place. I was also emotionally and physically exhausted and it felt like 2020 was a year I slept. I'd go to sleep at 9:00pm and wake up at 2:00am, sometimes 3:30am. Sometimes I could go back to sleep but most times I'd have two mugs of coffee before breakfast. I looked forward to the weekends so that I could catch up on sleep, Alan was worried about me for awhile because sleep had become my favourite past-time. It was my mind's way of coping with Covid-19 and the move. The best sleep I had last year was under the influence of a local anesthetic for a minor operation and the two days following were fucking perfect. It wasn't until Februrary this year that I felt things rearrange and shift. I will never forget how me and a group of friends went to the Pig'N'Whistle at Riverside and had a dance. Imagine a small crowd of people dancing on a sticky floor and stage with pints and wine glasses in their hands and belting out the lyrics to 90's pop songs in off-key harmony. It was the first time in a long time that I truly felt like myself. I didn't know then that it was the moment my period of adjustment was close to becoming full circle. When my sleep pattern returned to something that almost resembles normal. When I would begin to go out during the day and enjoy the sun on my face. When travelling back and forth between my home and work is now just part of my daily routine, like brushing my teeth or nagging Alan to take out the bin. When I started to unpack the things that make a house a home. When I gained the courage to explore the surrounding suburbs and what they had to offer. Things are beginning to feel a little more familiar. Today I went to three different places and didn't feel like having a nana nap. Sometimes accomplishments are the same things you used to do before and they were little things which affected the bigger things. Last year everybody had their own period of adjustmentment, like the characters in a book facing the same problem with a different story. 2020 was a year that demanded us all to step up just as we were, challenged us to be more, encouraged us to embrace each other and taught us to be better people. And 2021 is the year that we evolve and thrive with everything we have learned. And we go on, better than before and more resilient than we ever knew. - Sarah x