The last year has brought about more changes in our lives, or indeed in my life, than any that have gone before. Covid-19 something none of us had heard of before 2020 has changed everything – from how we live, breathe and even think. It has locked our doors, halted our expectations and yet has given us time to look and consider our lives and how we want to live, and although we have had isolation thrust upon us we are learning how to deal with it.
Some people thrive on isolation, love their own company and feel little or no need for outside stimulation while for others it causes real pain and fear. Some have turned to family and friends for solace and comfort while for others that very ‘bubble’ has proved restricting and occasionally frightening. Lockdown has caused almost as many frictions within families and friendships as it has underlined their importance and wonder to the rest of us. We have learned how to love at close quarters like never before and we have learned the true meaning of what a soul mate really is.
BC (Before Covid) we mostly had a vague idea of what such a relationship really is…that person who understood us, was on the same wavelength, who knew our thoughts almost before we did ourselves. Someone who was totally on the same wavelength, the same spiritual level as we were, someone who you didn’t see for years and yet when you did just carried on the conversation as you had left it…someone with the same tastes, same sense of humour, same values. The very lucky found that their life partner fitted that description perfectly, while others found it in old school friends, former lovers, second cousins or miraculously in total strangers they bumped into at a railway station and a chance conversation.
Others found it in the writings of Carson McCullers, the poetry of Tagore, the songs of Leonard Cohen or the company of Rag, Tag and Bobtail, for what DC (During Covid) has shown, is that we have turned to our pets for the calm, unquestioning company and love, they provide. It’s a different kind of love, one that has no name but totally understands what your soul needs in a time of crisis, hurt and uncertainty. It manifests itself in the unquestioned joy when a bowl of food appears or in the gentle entrapment of cold feet under a warm furry body. It is unquestioning, approving, non-judgemental…it is what nurtures the soul in such uncertain times.
(The warm furry body in my case is pictured above in one of her Freda Kahlo channelling modes)
What about yours?
