I hear if often from the people around me. I feel it too myself: emptiness. The other day my friend told me: “Life is a party. But… life is also what you make of it.” Easier said than done. Because it’s hard if you can’t find anything to make it with.
We don’t have parties or outings anymore. We hardly – if at all – see our friends and are stuck at home. That’s when you notice how attached you are to those things and how hard life is without them. On top of all that it’s also winter.
The current lockdown has been extended. But what will happen afterwards? How do we continue? We have completely lost perspective. It’s taking too long for my taste. I don’t want to complain (because there are enough other terrible things in the world to worry about) but hey, we live here now and this is our problem. So I’m allowed to complain a little. Here we go…
I have lost motivation and am less inspired to do things for school. I don’t want to go outside, because nine out of ten times you see rain, wet snow or falling trees. That’s not an option. Clearing your mind in the gym will be hard too. Even going into town to do some shopping is too much to ask, since the stores are all closed.
Fortunately, I still meet with my best friend. We laugh a lot and mostly try not to talk about COVID. How nice! But I know that she’s facing the same problems. She too feels the emptiness. And I think many other people do as well.
We can only do one thing and that is: keep holding on. Things will be fine eventually. I hope the stores open soon, so we can buy party supplies and make life a party once again.
Karin Tienstra is first-year Journalism student at Windesheim
