Covid-19 Fatigue is Home Fatigue

-

Online stock pic.

Pandemic fatigue or exhaustion is trending. Maybe it has always been there. I just never noticed. What is missing from the malady is ‘home’.

Loosely defined, COVID-19 fatigue comes from being at home and not outside, in places that give us joy and peer validation. It’s easier to blame the virus for the frustration but we know the truth.

Home is not fulfilling, despite the corner house with a pond or penthouse condominium, expensive furniture, German automobiles,  gadgets for every vegetable and electronics.

Home is just an airport where we refuel while waiting for the next flight out of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, LAX, John F. Kennedy, London Heathrow, Ministro Pistarini International in Argentina, or Cairo International.

The pandemic has exposed us like the frog’s butt, to use a Zulu proverb. Staying at home dismantles the fallacy that it’s a warm place, with people we love and who love us back.

One year of Covid-19 is a stark reminder that we are powerless at home, the main reason why we miss the office or the shop floor. We command respect at work, not because the staff loves us, but because of our capability to promote, demote and remove.

We are somebody at work because there’s structure. We have titles, we wear white or gray lab coats which denote our rank. Indeed, we have parking reserved for Chief Financial Officer or Chief Medical Supervisor, all others will be towed away at your expense.

The traditional office with four walls is a thing of the past as more workplaces opt for open space, but still, where we sit in that open space denotes our importance.

What we cannot forgive the pandemic for, is robbing us of choice. Working 9-5 gave us the choice to take a sabbatical from home most days. Not anymore. We’re marooned here and it gnaws us to such an extent that we call it pandemic fatigue.

This is another ‘written podcast’ from Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more