It’s a trying time now, no doubt. Everyone is adjusting to this new life, where we stay home during this COVID-19 Circuit Breaker (CB) period.
Globally, the number of new cases is still rising and the amount of media generated each day surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic is growing unabated. The queues at the supermarkets are as long as ever and the delivery slots available are diminishingly evasive.
With parents trying to cope with WFH while helping children with their HBL in a tight home space, there’s indeed quite a lot to juggle physically, mentally and emotionally. We’ve acquired new cajoling, nagging, scolding and tear management skills. And of course, the extrovert in us can’t wait to see the light at the end of this dark tunnel.
It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the uncertainty and the length of the pandemic, to grow weary in our little corner about every little injustice and forget that there are several things we can still be thankful and grateful for.
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“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
Who We Are Thankful For This COVID-19 CB Season
We are certainly grateful for the many in our midst who have risen to the occasion at this critical time:
- Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers who are bravely telling us to stay at home for them as they stay in the frontline for us
- Contact tracing teams, police and army officers hunting down each clue to stamp out COVID-19 in our midst
- Frontline workers at the airport, seaport and security personnel doing their part to keep us safe
- Essential workers looking after our electricity, water, sanitation, waste disposal, telecommunication needs and the like so that we can carry on life as usual at home
- Transport personnel – bus captions, train drivers, taxi drivers, private-hire drivers who are out there daily encountering the unknown whilst serving us
- Teachers and school administrators doing more than just teach in this new world of virtual lessons
- All who work at wet markets, supermarkets, hawker centres, coffee shops and restaurants, as well as food delivery personnel bringing us our daily necessities and comfort food
- Foreign workers including our domestic helpers, cleaners, construction workers, shipyard workers and many more unseen who contribute to our nation in so many ways
- Non-profit organisations, businesses and employers who are struggling yet banding together to launch new initiatives to help our community
- Singapore’s multi-ministerial task force and the whole-of-government hard at work each day facing the difficult task of strategising the best way to move forward and galvanising each of us to stay @SGunited.
Whether big or small, each of us has a part to play in this fight against COVID-19. Let’s take a minute to send a text or call to thank someone and let him/her know that you appreciate them.
For us here at Little Day Out, we’re enormously grateful to our team for tirelessly producing even more useful stories to help you through this time.
The Many Things We Are Grateful For This COVID-19 Circuit Breaker Season
The circuit breaker season has allowed us to see many things in a new light. That’s it’s still possible to live despite it all. We are so grateful for the many big and little things like these:
- A place to call home
- Family time where we get to see more of and eat with each other, and the opportunity to spend meaningful time together
- Friends and colleagues we can interact with over the phone or online
- WFH being the balm for working parents typically torn by pain and guilt for being away from children
- Chance to reconnect with those whose love and understanding we have been taking for granted
- “New” faces we nod to in our neighbourhood as they exercise and no longer rush off to work
- Greater appreciation of what we had and the freedom to head out wherever and whenever we liked
- Time saved from not having to travel to work/school
- Time to slow down, ponder, meditate, read a book
- Time to re-evaluate our lives and see what really counts
- Sunshine and rain as we head out for essential goods and services
- Nature standing in all its beauty
- Cleaner air with less pollution
- Teaching our own children
- Food to eat and toilet rolls to use
- Strength to do our own household chores
- Less to iron as we wear more home clothes
- Money saved on massage therapies, replaced with stretching exercises
- Creative new ways to entertain ourselves
- Technology to stay plugged in
- Free audio books to read
- Free virtual concerts to attend and great performances to watch
- Online fitness regimes to try out
- Places we have travelled to and can still see through virtual tours and websites
- Virtual museums we can visit
- Discovering new hawkers and restaurants we can support
- Bubble tea and ice cream we can indulge in
- Experimenting with home-cooked goodness with the kids
- A pause in our pursuit of material rewards
- Confronting the abundance of things we have as we Marie Kondo our way through the house
- Ability to stare at fear and stress in the face and embrace it with love and support
- See new perspectives on issues we would not normally have looked at
- More ways to care for and share with others who are in need
- Pay-it-forward initiatives that we can take on
- The knowledge that we are all connected and that we are all in this together.
What else are you thankful and grateful for? We invite you to add on to this list. Hashtag us @littledayout on Instagram.
The day will come where we will get to meet again and have many great little days out. Till then, stay calm and stay in with Little Day Out!
