This isn’t the first time I’ve started a blog. Every time though, I feel this pressure about the first post; what will be interesting, funny, quirky enough to draw readers in? But the thing is, it doesn’t matter so much what that first post is about. What’s important is the exercise of writing itself, the constancy and commitment of doing it on a regular basis to hone your voice, and from that comes improvement- the interesting bits that will have people subscribing, commenting, finding fulfillment from shared thoughts and words.

So, here it is. Why did I start this site? Like many people in the world today, I’ve been in a weird, in-between place as a result of months of quarantine. I’m really bad at the in between places, as I think most humans are. We don’t like indecisiveness, which makes sense from even as far back as an evolutionary standpoint: have the fish returned this year? Will the berries bloom again? It’s stressful not knowing.

That being said, I definitely don’t have anything as bad as other people might currently. I’m not here to whine. I hope that by sharing my thoughts, people will be able to relate, which “naturalizes” the situation a bit more. The stress gets alleviated by the knowing that other people are in the same state; if other people’s time is consumed by waiting for the berries, watching for the fish, then it must be that soon those needs will be fulfilled. I’m not an isolated, freak case in nature who is going to suffer and die because my needs are so esoteric, nature couldn’t possibly morph to meet them. Also, there is strength in numbers. Humans are social animals. Knowing that others are in the same boat is reassuring because it means that push come to shove, we can work together to change circumstances, bring change to fruition.

The unified voices and actions throughout the world these past months has been the best thing to come out of quarantine. Yes, flattening the curve is important. But it should also be each and every single individual’s constant goal in life to always be striving for betterment. There are so many ways to improve ourselves- we’re human, we’re imperfect, duh. It is inspiring that with time on our hands, people didn’t act out, crime didn’t tick up. People used their voices to express outrage and the necessity for change around the world, for people of all colors and races to be treated equally. We didn’t sit around staring at our bellybuttons. We worked to improve relations globally and at home. Could this effort have begun earlier? Yes, always. But there are always “other things” going on. I think it’s pretty neat that given the time, the world decided to tackle this juggernaut of an issue and work together to improve.