Corona has been tough for everyone. Those who have had the symptoms and those who have not. Motivation for the everyday things have been compressed like a foot shoved in a too small shoe. What was once enjoyable has become taxing as the daily humdrum creates only the prosaic.

Essentials work nonstop as the need that has always been there is now magnified; supported by tons of expectations and very little if any gratitude with constant reminders that there is no time for anything else. So called non-essentials question their self-worth and their future livelihood as unconscious depression keeps them in a couch potato, rerun induced worry about everything downtrodden haze. Yet others embrace the madness, happily staying cocooned in their sweats and yoga pants, Door Dashing or Grub Hubbing their stimulus checks away, while intentionally ignoring the impending tax time melee.

There has been such randomness during this pandemic. The subconscious awakens memories of breathing without a face covering. Desire sparks hands that were once soft and supple instead of the dry woolen appendages manifested by over washing. Dreams run rampant of traveling without quarantining before or after visiting the neighbor. And smiles widen sincerely in anticipation of more than a few stolen hearty hug moments with family and friends. Stronger yet, there is still hope that personable interactions are reignited and sunburns are a result of open beaches not the electromagnetic radiation of video conferencing.

There is beauty in realizing the Aerosmith earworm that hypnotically directed patrons to “Walk this way,” down store aisles is a fading nightmare and let’s not even get started on the relieve associated with not needing to spare a square. Embrace the realization, it is now time for gyms to reopen and Mr. Mellencamp to begin his unique method of brainwashing as he convinces us the loss of those pandemic pounds surely “Hurts So Good.“

As global sanity teases us with reemergence, I realized I too had been sucked into the black hole of virus nothingness. I assumed no life… only work… over-ate and never slept. I happily did these things all while ignoring my aspirations. After all why dream in a world that is such a horrible place?

Recently the hallucination vanished as if by a magical click of the remote. The sun was peeping through the clouds and I realized, it is not just something your parents tell you – life is what you make it. So I cancelled Netflix, turned off Hulu and disregarded all the other streaming voodo, picked up my IPad for more than Facebook or Snapchat…. and here we go AGAIN.

Let’s Release the Monkeys!