IMPACT 0072: WRITING THE CORONA ANTHEM

This letter was written during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as part of Dear Covid-19. Though some of the events and details in this letter may have changed since then, we hope to remember those in our community who stepped up when it mattered most. Continue to keep up with them on their social pages at @shiggashay.

Dear COVID-19,

What a year it has been since your arrival. Never thought the day would come

when the whole world would be home at the same time. I haven’t really left my house for about two months now.

This has been a serious time for reflection for a lot of us, including myself. Being home also means being still. Being still leads to being present. Being present is something that we have all forgotten how to do BC (Before Corona).

The word “coronavirus” has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue since the start of 2020. As days went by, we were slowly bombarded with anxiety-inducing news on the daily.

When I landed in Singapore back in March, I was immediately subjected to a 14-day Stay Home Notice (SHN) which was effective upon landing. Right before I finished my 14-day SHN, the circuit breaker commenced. Being used to travelling regularly and on the move constantly, this was something pretty new to me. Everything had come to a standstill.

This pandemic that brought the world to her knees. The global pandemic that closed the world.

Pause for a moment to recalibrate, reflect and heal.

We can all take this little time that we have to heal. Yes, most of us are going to suffer, most of us are going to lose a big chunk of our income this year. Businesses will fail and lives will change.

When things get back to normal, “normal” will never be the same again. We will go back to a new normal.

We’re all going to come out of this with different priorities compared to what we had BC. I’ve been working on a lot more music in my home studio amidst this lockdown and also spending more quality time with my beloved mother. Time that we would’ve been too busy to afford if it wasn’t for this worldwide standstill.

So to a certain extent, there are things that I am grateful for despite these crazy times. Holding on to feelings of gratitude does make the days go by a lot easier. These days, I count even being able to work from home a huge blessing.

It hardly needs saying that these are some tough times. That would probably be an understatement. The constant bombardment of negative news might be hard to keep up with, but even harder to process. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by those waves of information.

Sometimes disconnecting for a bit might be the healthy way to manage our emotions in the closed spaces of our homes.

It’s been these times that have reminded me the power of music.

It’s that glimmer of hope that never dims or diminishes. Music is such a great source of escape and distraction.

It allows us to get away from things. It doesn’t stop us from thinking, but it makes us reflect instead.

This entire situation has made me fall in love with music all over again. And for that, I am thankful.