Neither hibernation nor pause, life goes on, whether we like it or not

Close your eyes and open them when all is done. As if it was just a bad dream to quickly leave behind. Shaking off the sleepiness to return to that normalcy that was taken away from us too quickly to realize it. It's a tempting idea. And all the tempting ideas quickly become ideas that can be sold.

So it is not surprising that the word "hibernation" and synonyms like "pause" are gaining more and more importance in institutional speeches and in the headlines. Hibernation… It is said of the state of profound lethargy in which we function at the minimum of our abilities to recover then when the times are more favorable.

Yet we are not hibernating. Nor is life on a break. Behind the closed doors overlooking the deserted streets - partly quiet and partly creepy - life is more intense than before. In this state of presumed paralysis, one of the most difficult and uncertain emotional experiences we have faced in recent times takes shape. We cannot ignore it.

The two biggest mistakes we can make

The words chosen to shape the narrative - official and individual - about what is happening to us are important. We cannot forget that, fortunately or unfortunately, repeating a word as a mantra is not enough to make it come true.

Nor should we forget that language is often designed to make lies seem true and give an appearance of solidity to mere wind, to paraphrase George Orwell. We must not forget that the words we choose can also limit the scope of our thinking and restrict the range of action of our mind.

Believing that we are in hibernation or that our life is on pause leads us to two terrible mistakes. The first is to go through this painful experience without learning anything, throwing confinement and suffering overboard. The second, to think that when we get out of it we will pick up everything from the same point where we stopped.

The watchword: reflect

Suffering in itself teaches nothing. It is not a mystical epiphany. But the way we deal with this suffering can strengthen us. We cannot avoid what is happening. But we can make sure that everything that is happening is not in vain.

Trying to distract the mind with trivialities, so as not to think too much about the worries that are growing more and more in our heads, is legitimate. For a while'. But it shouldn't be our master strategy. Now, more than ever, we need to reflect.

Advocates of the idea that these are times for action, not for reflection - as if we didn't have the ability to do both at the same time - deny in advance the possibility of transforming change. If we act and then think, we run the risk of acting late and making mistakes. To repent and fall into the slippery mud of guilt.

We can take this time to think about what we have done wrong as a society and what we would like to do differently. We can use this time to put priorities in order - social and individual. We can take advantage of this time to accomplish the truly essential things, those that we do not want or cannot do without, and those superfluous things that it would be better to get rid of.

We can take advantage of this break to give a blow in the towel and start from scratch. To dare to do things differently when this is all over. To slow down. Enjoying the hugs and the little things, which are really the big things in life.

Perhaps, when this virus disappears, "Another - and more beneficial - ideological virus will spread and perhaps infect us: the virus of thinking of an alternative society", as the philosopher Slavoj Zizek would say, a better, less competitive and more solidary society . A society that is aware of everyone in their individuality and that gives those people who are at the forefront the value and recognition they deserve.

Nothing will ever be the same, for better or for worse

“Over the past two hundred years or more, the world has gone faster and faster. But all of that was stopped. We live in a unique moment of calm. We are experiencing a historical moment of slowdown, as if gigantic brakes were stopping the wheels of society ”, says philosopher Hartmut Rosa.

That sudden stop left us astonished. Because the weight of the unexpected has added to the disaster. But it can help us. Not to pause our life, but to put it back on track.

The world we return to will never be the same again. The trauma was too great. Many people will not be the same. They lost their loved ones without even having a chance to say goodbye. Without being able to mourn his death in the family. Other people have lost their economic livelihood and with it their stability and life plans.

We are now a society that has been left naked in the face of its vulnerability. And this leaves its mark. We need to keep this in mind when the doors finally open and we fill the streets again. And the time to prepare is now. So we have to make sure we don't go into hibernation. Don't give in to the apathy that deactivates our thinking. Do not surrender to the apathy that sinks us, to the anhedonia that disconnects us.

Instead, we have to keep fighting. For those we love. For the world we want. With the weapons we have. So that when the coveted "thaw" arrives, the return to normalcy, we will not only have kept alive, but also human.