Let that quarantine teach us something please

A photo of an enormous tree that is definitely three times my age and looked so beautiful, a video of three deer calmly wandering through the forest early in the morning, the complete blooming process of the magnolia in my front yard. That kind of still life interspersed with a glass of wine, that's what my photo album looks like now. It seems like I see more because I see less. It can't get more philosophical than this today, don't worry, but do you know what I'm afraid of? That we will all forget this so quickly again.

I drive on my free Saturday with bunches of tulips from Zeeland to Brabant, to place them at the door of my grandfather, grandmother, mother, and in-laws. Just to let them know that despite the distance, I really do think of them. This afternoon I will take a walk at one and a half meters distance through the forest with my father, who certainly cannot work until June 1st. Because of this crisis, I pay more attention to the people I love.  

Whether you like it or not, whether it is forced or not, a part of us is standing still. And I can only think: let's at least learn something from this. That working from home helps to clean the air, for example, because we are not all getting into cars and standing in line to go to a city. That being outdoors provides a fresh mind instead of always crawling into Instagram. That it is nice to sometimes be at home and not always be away just for the sake of being away. That reading a book or digging in potting soil with your hands might be more relaxing than meditating with complicated singing bowls. That a dog makes your week genuinely nicer when you work from home. Oh excuse me, that last one was a note to self. How godforsakenly sad would it be if we do nothing with this quarantine and forget everything again?

Maybe I am too idealistic and we will all dive back into the madness of the world en masse. Will we just overcompensate because we feel like we are standing still? Which doesn't have to happen, because this seems to be a suitable moment to learn something new or reinvent yourself. Will a whole generation crash into a burnout again because they have no idea how balance works? And was this all for nothing.

But do you know what this crisis will definitely bring us? Houses that are neatly painted, weed-free gardens, quarantine kilos, a stock listing for every video call application in the world and for TikTok, because honestly: that app was invented for people who are bored. And that's something to be scared of.