23. December 2020

Celebrating Christmas during a Pandemic

This year is full of uncertainties and even as I am preparing this blog post I don’t know if it is gonna be safe to celebrate Christmas with my family. I could always wake up with a cough on the 24th which would make for a terribly lonely Christmas. Since we all find ourselves in a very new situation I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the last days of 2020 and holiday celebrations in times of an international pandemic.

This year has demanded a lot from all of us and brought some of us to our physical or mental limits. I would like to claim to be exempt from this, but no, 2020 has also gnawed at me and probably will for a while longer.

This year has shown me how quickly the idyll of simple western life can disintegrate.

It showed me how lonely a life without social contacts can be and how meaningless everyday life can feel without cultural events and activities. Being alone I had to ask myself the question: Who am I now, when everything that normally makes up my life falls away? What will become of me when so many interesting aspects of life suddenly disappear and leave no alternatives? In my eternal search for meaning I asked myself how I want to shape my life in the future and what I would like to see more of in the days after Corona.

Some people may think that this is naive,

but I still believe that we as a community can take positive developments from this crisis. That we look after each other and protect, but also support each other. That we will never again take our comfortable life in a developed country with a good health care system for granted. And that we also protect the environment, which for the first time in decades has been given a little breathing space. And above all: That we are there for each other when we are not well, when someone has mental problems or is simply overwhelmed by the rapid pace of our world.

One of my psychology professors once said the following sentence, which has remained in my memory for many years: “Thinking is so exhausting that many people prefer to judge.” And she’s probably right, because understanding other people’s perspectives takes time and energy. But getting to know new worlds is one of the best things you can spend your time with – even when all national borders are closed.

I like being a cynic myself.

But negative talk has rarely helped me in life. Thanks to social media, the last few years have shown me more and more how much hate and negativity is rampant in the world. And: That this hatred never has a justified reason or helps anyone, including the person who started it. Corona showed me – and this will probably sound corny and not at all cynical – that it is love that connects us and makes life bearable, even when the world around us seems to be on fire.

With these thoughts, I want to wish you a stress-free and healthy celebration of your winter holidays.