By Ginia Carissa Langstieh
Since the world has been in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries have been in a state of persistent lockdown. Nothing feels normal any longer: social-distancing, hand-washing, sanitising, face masks, curfews and staying home, they have become the new normal in 2020.
Definitely, COVID-19 has brought about a mammoth transformation in every context, paralysing the world beyond human imagination. When everything is uncertain, one thing remains certain, change. Life is a journey and its course is change — since the dawn of history till now, we have experienced the inevitability of change. It is not all bad though. Change brings in new learning and this has helped humans to evolve through the ages, to adapt to transitions and transformations and to come through as the dominant species on the planet.
With social distancing and social isolation being the new order of the day, adhering to the new normal has become mandatory, being one of the better ways to prevent and contain the deadly virus from spreading and claiming lives. I wonder though what enduring changes will it usher in, what impact will it have in terms of human actions, interactions, behaviour and the consequences thereafter?
No doubt, ‘prevention is better than cure’ and ‘being safe is better than being sorry’, but for how long can we isolate ourselves from others? And to what extent can virtual interactions be satisfying?
Humans are not just living organisms comprising a physical form — inhaling oxygen, exhaling carbon dioxide. We are social creatures, psychological beings, emotionally driven and thus unique and interesting. We are defined by our interpersonal relationships, conversations, communications and our synergies and affinities. Freedom, to live life and earn a livelihood, friendships, ‘spouseships’, community and family are what imbue us with the essence of life; without it, we are denuded organisms, robots, stripped of our essential humanness and humaneness.
With social distancing in place, relationship-building and nurturing have been put on hold in the ways we took for granted in the past. Touching and hugging are the emotional and psychological ingredients comprising a healthy, happy individual. But of late, this has been denied to humans and staying away from each other has evolved into the new normal for expressing love: ridiculous and utterly paradoxical to nature’s law of ‘sharing is caring’.
Ironically, the virus will weaken our immune system but in tandem with stress too crippling our faculties, it will exact a heavy toll on the same immune system. The savage grip of stress on the human psyche threatens to wreak havoc across societies. And why will it not? A mother unable to hug and kiss her children, grandparents isolated from their grandchildren, no group hugs at a winning sports match, no high fives with friends, no sharing bites of pizza with siblings, no holding hands between lovebirds, no ‘good morning teachers’, no toddlers playing together. These are just a few of the many human expressions of love and fellowship that we are missing; how do we recapture the presence of ‘old normal’, alive with the vivid vibrancies of quotidian life? The immortal symphony of simply pulsing with laughter, being aglow with joy, infused and suffused with friendships, ablaze with love, can we experience once again such a vivacity and vitality that comes from truly being alive?
Yet, if touch and belongingness are denied for too long, I am certain that statisticians will come out with alarmingly steep data on mentally ill people, to make the toll from the virus appear minuscule in comparison. Will this new normal not inject us with new forms of OCD, depression, aggression-frustration, anti-social behaviours and anxieties in children and adults?
No matter how protective the mask is, there is a high cost that comes with it: preventing us from openly smiling at each other, breathing with ease and communicating with engaging exchanges of conviviality.
Whilst history is in the making, the new normal adaptability quotient for humans is being put to the test.
Let us ask ourselves: How normal is the new normal? Or is it a bland case of ‘the survival of the fittest’? Could it, instead, be the new abnormal menacingly transforming the old rhythms of life?
(The author is a lecturer of Psychology at
Lady Keane College)