What Would You Tell Your 2020 Self?

Today I read an article on Vox about what people would tell their pre-pandemic selves if they could travel back in time.  It made me think about what I would tell myself.  What would Rachel of 2021 tell Rachel of 2020 about the pandemic?  I could think of only one thing to say.

Nothing will happen to me.  

That is both good and bad.

The world will go mad.  I will see my friends lose loved ones.  I will see my friends in healthcare professions pushed to the breaking point.  Face masks will become mandatory.  Businesses will close.  There will be an election season like nothing this country has ever seen before.  

The good news is events will happen around me, and they will affect my life in many ways, but nothing will happen to me personally. 

Does this sound reassuring?  It’s not meant to be - at least not entirely.  Nothing tragic will happen, but nothing joyful will happen either.

Let's take that imaginary time machine back to early 2020.  It’s almost springtime and 2020 Rachel is happy to see winter ending.  She is planning the best summer ever.  2020 Rachel has ideas. She has dreams. She has short-term and long-term goals.  

Rachel 2020 isn’t going to like being denied all the fun.  She won’t like having to spend weeks at home missing out on her hobbies.  She is going to be bored and stir crazy.  She will wait around and hope for something to change, but change happens far too slowly.  She won’t see her faraway friends because travel will be difficult.  She won’t even see much of her local friends either because there are few places to meet up.  She will go for months without seeing some of her closest family members.

On the other hand, it’s not so bad to have nothing happen.  It was a Year of Nothing Special, but it was also a Year of Nothing Tragic.  I can assure 2020 Rachel that none of my close friends or family members contracted COVID-19.  I kept my job.  Kevin eventually found a job.  I stayed healthy despite what could have been a major health scare.  I am grateful that the worst tragedy in my life in the past year was endless ennui.

If my time machine only allowed me to spend 30 seconds with 2020 Rachel, how would I sum it all up?

I would say, "You will get used to it."

That is the pandemic in a nutshell, isn't it?  We talk about how quarantine and masks and social distancing became the "New Normal" and it's true.  No matter how bored and frustrated I became, I kept on. Life went on within the new parameters. I dealt with it. I keep dealing with it.  

I am so accustomed to being at home all the time, I am not even sure how I will handle being out in the world full time.  I have my routines now.  I suspect going back to my pre-pandemic world might be as big of a shock to my system as quarantine was. 

Like most humans on this planet right now, I am over this pandemic, but this pandemic is still not over.  I have to maintain this routine for an indefinite amount of time.  I endured it for a year now.  I know I can keep enduring it.  I have no choice.

If Rachel 2022 has a time machine and visits me today for only a few minutes, what would she tell me about the months to come?

What would you tell yourself, Reader?  Would you assure yourself that everything will be fine, or would you recommend strapping yourself in and preparing for a bumpy ride?