Ok, so, who’s exhausted?

Depleted? Drained? Wiped out? Or all of the above?

Or am I the only one?

If you’re anything like me right now, you’ve probably had enough. You see, this Corona thing came along and stopped life, but life didn’t stop for it. And why should it? Life is known for marching on, and thankfully it does. Life goes on, regardless. Regardless of Corona, regardless of work, life, stress. Regardless of big battles, personal struggles and everything in between.

I’ve had a few of those in this Corona period. I’m sure you have too.

As I was powering up the hill near my house tonight, with my ears plugged to my personal soundtrack, and my face masked off from the world, I came up with the title for this piece:

I’d like to talk to you, but let’s stay behind screens.

Maybe it was the reflections of myself I kept catching glimpses of as I walked past closed up shops, forced to shut their doors. The reflections were a reminder of how quiet the streets were, how alone I was, in that sacred hour left until curfew.

I started thinking about the feeling of being screened off from the world. We’ve gotten used to this new world, a world with acrylic partitions, empty buses and people with their faces shielded from the world. We’ve gotten used to it because we had no choice but to.

But does it creep under your skin, the way it creeps under mine? That almost imperceptible feeling that we’re viewing the entire world from behind a barrier? Personally, I’ve gotten so used to blocking out other people that I stopped looking directly at them as I pass. The masks are just another reminder of how far from “normal” we still are, and I don’t need any more reminders when they are staring at me in the face everywhere I go.

So, yes, I’d like to talk to you. And maybe this time, let’s dissolve some of those screens.

I’d like to see a world without screens. And I’d like to see people behind the screens they put up for themselves. That’s one of the main reasons I continue to write. Because whether it’s a computer screen or a visible partition, I think it’s healthy to see someone without their shield. It’s nice to see moments when the masks drop, and people’s real expressions show through.

And yet —

It’s far from easy showing up to the world exactly as you are, with your day written across your features, but I would like to advocate for more real-ness. Real people. Real moments. Real connections.

Who are you when your mask comes off?

And, perhaps an even bigger question: who am I?