Is it really possible not to be?

By: Linda Villamarin

Now that almost everyone is in quarantine, living through the unimaginable pandemic, we are invaded by news everywhere. No matter what social network you use, everyone, absolutely everyone is talking about it, and I don't know about you, but for me, it can be terribly exhausting at times. 

Talking about this subject in general is creating a collective fear. Yes, it is true that we must be informed and as careful as we can be, but we do not have to talk about it all the time and keep feeding that fear. As the poet Andrés Newman would say, “The revolutionary thing is to change the subject". Now that we are spending so much time at home and technology and social networks have become our greatest allies in staying connected to the world, it would seem a contradiction to do the complete opposite. Not to be. 

Personally, I wanted to see the quarantine as a moment for me. I need me. This time at home is so good for me, and it has been so relaxing to disconnect from the world that I think to myself more than ever, “I don't want to be connected with what is happening outside”. Social networks, which are so useful now, can be the ones that most feed a fear that is growing, what with the number of infected, countries, cities, care givers going out into the streets, and so on. I know that very difficult things are happening in the world now, but what if, for a moment, just for a moment, and for our mental health, we decided to take advantage of the time at home to really disconnect. 

What if now that we are at home we finally gave that idea a chance to develop, what if we finally finished that novel we started writing, tried a new hobby, looked for new recipes to cook, read that book we had left halfway through due to lack of time, learned to do meditation or anything else we couldn't do before by living with the madness of everyday life. But above all, let's do things that feed the soul, that help us recover what we are without the lens of the audience. To really disconnect from the world to connect with us, to meet us again and to look for small moments of peace that will bring us back to the earth and who we are. 

Because as soon as the quarantine began, everyone looked for an immediate way to keep in touch with everyone they knew and even with those with whom they’d already lost contact. Now many people are experts in social networking and virtual group meeting apps, the ones with better sound, better resolution, and where more people can be included. It’s as if being at home were only an illusion and seeking to keep life from the inside as if we were still outside. I think the opposite. If I'm going to be inside, I'm going to disconnect as much as I can. It's my time to finally be with me, or even with the people I live with, for whom I don't need to look for the best app to be able to communicate with, who are here in front of me, my family, my partner, my house and myself. 

Some time ago, in a class that I had, a teacher told us that she had a case of a student who did not have Facebook and that had been the novelty of the class, because at that time their colleagues with whom they had to make a work group communicated through that app. Apparently, it was unthinkable that a woman living at this time in the world would choose not to have social network accounts and not want to try either. . . And her answer was simply, it is really possible not to be? 

It's complicated, but it's possible. Being connected to the world, thanks to all the applications that exist, is a benefit and something you can take advantage of, but you don’t have to all the time. So, I propose a change of subject, whether it's for a day, or a few hours, a total disconnection from the world, from the news, and even from who we normally are. To allow ourselves to really not be. See what happens, see who we meet. The results can surprise us, and it can be a very refreshing reality in the midst of this madness to simply try it. 

It’s not that we have the obligation at this time to become experts in something, to learn a new language perfectly, to master a skill completely, to learn to cook like professionals. . . No, it is not about that, it is not about bringing home the same competitiveness with which we live outside. Now that we are inside, and have more flexible schedules, we have no need to impose anything on ourselves, no appointments, no activities, much less perfect results. The main goal that I think is worth trying at home is the idea of that exact thing, being inside, so inside that only the idea of being with ourselves begins to fill us. To heal in solitude, to listen to ourselves without the noise from outside, to give ourselves time to change the speed of life and establish our own rhythm. Disconnect in such a way that we can leave here knowing that our inner peace must be the priority and our new lifestyle, and not the one imposed on us by the consumer society. That's the change of topic that's worthwhile. To leave aside the news, the fear of the streets, the paranoia of the world and simply be ourselves as an act of resistance and definitive victory.