🧬 Change of Plans

 "Maybe your life just didn't turn out the way you expected, write about that." 

 

On my second week back in Zacatecas, March 11, 2020. As I walked outside home, brooming and picking up fallen leaves from our several trees, my watch shook, notifying me about the imminent news. The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the COVID-19 outbreak a world-wide epidemic. Making SARS-CoV-2 the third coronavirus disease in two decades. And the second pandemic of the century. 

    When it comes to working and dealing with outbreaks, the Mexican government had done it well in the past. Local presidents and governors were at their best when they frequently faced infections in their cities. A nation's president and people did not need to do everything the scientific newspapers suggest because its population already understood what to do. However, in the spring of 2020, as we took this event as something temporary. Our death toll starter climbing, faster than the Italian one.  

    This outbreak would be the second time I deal with a pandemic lockdown. In 2009—when I was 9—my parents told me a global drawback called Swine Flu had originated in Veracruz. A large state next to ours. In which many people were dying. Nonetheless, I did not worry at all. In those months, I centered my entire energy playing Super Mario 64 and Luigi's Mansion. 

    With this newest Coronavirus, things were unusual. At least 80 percent of infections were asymptomatic. There was no treatment or vaccine ready to help us fight it. Nobody comprehended—except doctors and scientists—what was going on. Social distancing and daily webinars became our daily "bread." Entire economies dropped in a matter of weeks. Unemployment drastically raised, and businesses closed. This quarantine time was real. 

    Before starting this pandemic, I had scheduled a trip to Quebec again. I would go living with the same family I did four months before, and there was no problem until two weeks after the global announcement. On March 22, 2020, the Canadian and the Mexican airlines prohibited flights between their capitals, and later on, between all cities—letting thousands of tourists without the opportunity to discover new places. I did not care. Another chance to learn languages was appearing in front of me.

    What happened next became one of the most fascinating and life-changing moves I had done in my life. A friend from Syria shared a religious—and suspicious—PDF packed with everyday prayers to enjoy life and develop better mindfulness. Even though he is Muslim, and I am Catholic, he knew I could do it with him. (The only difference would be our Gods.)

Two days later, I started the "30-Day Gratitude Challenge." 

    Not all people can agree with me—all lives are complicated in their way—; however, this pandemic brought me the peace I did not know I needed. I immediately started appreciating doctors, garbage collectors, bus drives, nature, animals, and, most importantly, my family. Since I was young, I have considered myself grateful. Yet, nowadays, each small change in my life is over welcomed and admired. Besides, I moved my flight to Canada one year later. My French students converted into close friends. My grandparents are still alive, and humanity persisted together. What else could I wish?

    I want to give thanks to you, reader, for reading my weird notes and sometimes sending me a message. I enjoy sharing my feelings this way. See you tomorrow, my friend.

Onward...