Day 10 – Loss of Vitality
Social connectedness is limited for most and non-existent for others. A few, like healthcare workers, are inundated with people, but without the intimate connection that brings a sense of life. And in the midst of this lack of relational connection, we can find ourselves feeling lethargic and dull. Without vim, vigor, or vitality.
Day 9 – Loss of Motivation
But now, we’re many weeks into sheltering-at-home and curfews. For some, it’s already been nearly two months since the first restrictions began. News reports are telling us we still need to be thinking in terms of months before restrictions are fully lifted. And, with all the other losses we’ve been navigating, we are experiencing a pretty significant loss of motivation.
Day 8 – Loss of Physical Touch
Just when we most need loving touch and connection—to feel the “with-ness” of each other—we are in isolation and lockdown. Many are experiencing the loss of physical touch. Social distancing and rubber gloves have created a very real “touch hunger” for many people. A deep ache for connection and comforting touch. Because we are hard-wired by God for it.
Day 7 – Loss of Provision
COVID-19 has been a predator, taking not just life and certainty—as we’ve already explored in previous All Our Sorrows reflections—but also financial stability. Many around the globe are facing a loss of provision. Just as the corvid magpie tears apart the sparrow’s nest, the Coronavirus is deconstructing reliable income, job security, retirement funds, and other carefully crafted financial plans.
Day 6 – Loss of a Loved One
No matter how the loss has come, or how prepared you may or may not have been for that person’s passing, death in this pandemic has left many of us feeling lost and stuck. All the ways we know to mourn and find closure—gathering around a bedside for a final goodbye, leaving the hospital, holding a memorial service, sitting Shiva, accompanying the casket to the grave—are all off-limits because of proximity restrictions. Closure is suspended.
Day 5 – Loss of Certainty
The questions are limitless, aren’t they? So many, many questions to which the only answer in these COVID-19 days is: I don’t know. And all the I-don’t-knows create and heighten a loss of certainty. It doesn’t matter where or how we live; we all have paradigms and templates that provide us a sense of certainty and security.
