22. The Year That Changed Us: Grief in the Time of Lockdown.

The Year That Changed Us: Grief in the Time of Lockdown

This was a truly horrible year (2020).

I’ve lost acquaintances, friends, and close family but the most painful, unexpected loss has been my children.

Not in the physical sense, but emotionally.
The connection, the closeness, the ease of our bond it’s all changed.

Our family, like so many others, has been deeply affected by the pandemic in ways we’re only just beginning to understand.
Confinement something usually reserved as a punishment for criminals was something we all had to endure for over a year. And now, it seems the government is extending that sentence by another six months.

I’m not sure if my family, as I once knew it, will ever return.
But I do know one thing for certain: we will never be the same again.

With no outlet for emotions or frustrations, except with the very people who are triggering your temporary insanity it’s a mental and emotional strain that’s hard to put into words.

And for hormonal teenagers trying to transition into adulthood without the usual freedom to escape, socialise, or release tension outside the home the pressure is unbearable. It’s a stress that hasn’t yet been fully recognised, let alone understood.

We are a family still breathing, still surviving but not untouched, and certainly not unchanged with teen rebelion compounded by the removal of all release valves.

*Update*

The real effects of this year have now and continue to unfold. The pain is so deep and the loss is unbearable.