(Image courtesy of Edwin Hooper via Unsplash)
This week I turned 21. When imagining a milestone like a 21st birthday, many people picture themselves going out to a big celebratory dinner, sharing laughs, and making memories with friends and family.
Unfortunately, for many people who turned 21 this past year, that hasn’t been the case and probably won’t be for quite a while. Don’t get me wrong– my 21st birthday was wonderful, but it certainly didn’t match the expectations I anticipated in pre-pandemic life.
As we near the one year mark of this global pandemic, safety continues to be top priority. However, many people can’t help but feel sad and angry that they’ve missed an entire year’s worth of life’s most memorable milestones. Graduations have been cancelled, weddings have been postponed and 21st birthdays have been downplayed.
The reason for these setbacks is truly a matter of life and death, but navigating our new normal while simultaneously missing out on the events we most look forward to is nothing short of devastating.
Even after almost an entire year, there appears to be a fine line between frustration and selfishness, but I believe those who are angry at our circumstances are justified in their feelings.
No, that doesn’t mean you should protest wearing masks and purposely ignore precautions set in place to ensure the safety of those especially susceptible to COVID-19. But, it does mean that your disappointment and despondency is valid.
I hate to be presumptuous, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say the past 11-12 months have been especially hard on all of us. We do not know when life will return to what we once knew, but we do know that we’ll never get back our graduations, birthdays, engagement parties, and all the other things we wait our entire lives for soon enough. And yes, it’s tough to come to terms with that.
There is no cure for the pain we feel from the consequences of this pandemic. Not only has it controlled our lives for almost one year, but it has altered the way we celebrate ourselves and each other.
All we can do is remind one another that we are experiencing this together, and it is okay to mourn what feels like the loss of many milestones. As difficult as it may be, we need to remain optimistic that life will eventually return to what we remember as normal, taking with us a new understanding of how precious every aspect of our lives are.
