One day (that I hope will be soon), we’ll be together with dear friends and family, sharing long overdue embraces. We’ll catch up on all that we’ve missed and share stories of how we survived.
Someone will ask, “What did you learn during the pandemic?”
What will you say? What have you learned?
“I learned how to wear a face mask.”
“We learned that we should have been wearing them all along.”
“I learned how to wash my hands – over and over and over again.”
“I learned how to shop and order dinner online.”
“I learned to Zoom.” “I learned to unmute myself when I had to speak, and I learned to mute and turn off my camera when I had to go to the bathroom.”
“I learned that my colleague wasn’t having a bad hair day when her camera was off throughout our strategic planning session. She was catching up on emails.”
“I learned how well I could look after my patients by phone and video, while recognizing that virtual health is no substitute for a thorough physical exam.”
“I learned that video is terrible for looking at rashes and that most people can’t take focused photos of the moles they are worried about.”
“I learned that my co-worker has a cat.”
But the most important lesson of this pandemic is the recognition of what really matters in our lives. What have you missed the most?
Sure we missed celebrating holidays, dining out, going to parties, window shopping, going to the mall, travelling to new places, eating popcorn in a movie theatre, dancing and attending live entertainment.
But what really matters – what we’ve missed the most – are the people who make life itself enjoyable and meaningful.
When this pandemic is finally over, the world will celebrate and we will party even more than we did in 1999. We will have each compiled an impressive post-pandemic “to do” list.
But we will have learned that our new priority will be our “to be with” list.
At the end of the day, at the end of this pandemic and at the end of life, what matters most are the special people in our lives. The relationships we’ve neglected and taken for granted for many years deserve our attention each day.
Our distractions have changed as we’ve coped with this global crisis. My hope is that we will never forget the greatest lesson of the pandemic.
We need one another. We each need to feel understood, valued and loved. We need to express our love by being present, listening well, speaking with kindness and acting generously. We need to embrace our loved ones.
I’ll be giving a free online talk on the Positive Potential of Our Relationships at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 25. As part of the Burnaby Division of Family Practice’s Empowering Patients public health education program, I’ll be sharing practical ways to foster healthy relationships and social connections.
For more information, please check https://divisionsbc.ca/burnaby/for-patients/empowering-patients or email Leona Cullen at [email protected]
Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician. His Healthwise Column appears regularly in this paper. For more on achieving your positive potential in health, read his blog at davidicuswong.wordpress.com.
