Coronavirus: Not yet ready to step out into the world

Dubai - I have straining at the leash to open the gate and go out into the world and now that I can suddenly I am not ready.

I don't know if you will at any stage be faced by this dilemma, but I am not yet ready to socialise and make even the remotest physical contact. So heavily has it been dinned into me to practice, espouse and propagate social distancing these past few weeks that it is almost unthinkable to come into contact with anyone now.

This fact was rammed home to me just after the relaxation in the 'stay home' dictate when some friends suggested we do a weekend at some resort just for a change of scene and a kind of get away from it all. And the very idea of spending time with others even at 6 feet apart filled me with dread. Strange cutlery and crockery, arbitrary bed linen, a hostile TV remote control, sorry no dice. Then going to a restaurant for a meal served by another stranger, that is just too much stress.

It is kind of like the Stockholm syndrome where you begin to identify with your captor and even empathise. This Covid-19 has also victimised us in similar fashion. By holding us captive it has enthralled and mesemerised us to the point where we feel we will be betraying it by taking even baby steps to normality as we once knew it.

Doorknobs, handles, latches, food packages, containers, banisters, just about every common day item is now suspect.

Forget a weekend in a hotel, I wouldn't even consider having you over, best friend or not, and as for stepping out into the world, well, I will need more than just a wee nudge to open the front door.

Odd, yes, because I have straining at the leash to open the gate and go out into the world and now that I can suddenly I am not ready.