The Problem With Self Isolation

I've been to many places where I felt very isolated. Of all such places, I felt the most alone at the Grand Canyon. This was despite the fact that there were thousands of tourists just outside the frame of this shot, including the person that took this photo for me.

It was funny, I kept turning around and giving instructions to make sure they framed it properly, and didn't get anybody else in there. It took about three tries if memory serves me right. The other two photos look completely different. One has an elderly couple stepping into the frame from the left side, while the other one catches more sky and cuts off my legs near the knee.

The places that I've been that were actually isolated, where I was actually alone, include the Lake District in England, Brecon Beacons in Wales, and on the road from Cairo to Alexandria in Egypt. That particular experience was intense. That road goes for hours and hours with nothing but desert on either side.

Due to the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, we've been asked to #stayHome to help "flatten the curve". Social distancing and self-isolation are powerful tools against the spread of the COVID-19 infection. So many have been confined to their quarters for weeks, even months, now. With that, many have been feeling the effects of isolation.

Human beings, we are communal creatures. We evolved/were designed to live in communities; families, clans, villages, tribes, e.t.c. As such, a lot of our daily existence depends on the other, on a design level. Asking a human to be isolated for extended periods of time is unnatural, and as such, is very difficult for many.

Of course, some of us are better at it than others. There are introverts, misanthropes, and sociopaths that experience self-isolation in a different way to mainstream society. I'm not classing them together, I'm just giving examples of folk that may not react in a normal way to self-isolation.

With isolation, for many, also comes introspection. Many are forced to look inwards, and at a mirror. Many people are being confronted by their own self for the first time in their lives. Many are realising that part of what is wrong with society is what they're looking at in the mirror.

There's also the issue of self-control, or discipline. Many are, of course, flouting the rules. Here in the UK, we are required to stay home, unless going out for essentials like food/medicine. We're also allowed out once a day for some exercise. What do you think has happened? Some people suddenly go out for 10 "runs" a day.

I see a lot of people heading out holding a drinking bottle that clearly are not exercising. They have them so they can show them to the police who now have the power to enforce the lockdown. I also see a lot of non-distancing happening. I drove past a couple of banks on the way to the supermarket the other day and witnessed the queue to get into the banks. I'd never seen anything like it here in England. People were indeed standing up to 6 meters away from each other - even more.

Everybody else, though, were acting normal. There were people walking in groups, talking face to face, and so on. I even witnessed a group of men shaking hands and hugging randomly. I have neighbours that have a toddlers, and I've witnessed some terrible behaviour from them. They constantly have people, probably family, visiting. These visitors not only touch the toddler (carry and kiss), but also smoke next to the little boy. It really aggravates me, especially the smoking part, but I always reach for my inner zen.

Talking of discipline, the sun is out and the weather is warm. This has been the last straw for many. I can see children playing on the streets now, with other children they don't live with. Their parents can also be seen talking to each other. All it takes is for one of them to have touched the wrong door knob, and they could all get sick. They could all or mostly survive, but in the mean time they could hold up a number of precious hospital beds.

Thankfully children seem to be somewhat resilient to the virus.

People are also bored. We live in an age where people need to be stimulated continuously. We have reprogrammed our brains to this new world. Pulling away stimuli we are used to causes a reaction in the brain similar to what a junkie experiences when they need a fix. Albeit a milder version, that's what we experience. We are junkies now and we need our fix. That's why some people behave in unexplainably dumb ways when asked to self-isolate.

Anyway, this is going on for too long. I have another dozen or so points, but I'll save those for a video I'll make at some point. If you're still reading this, I hope you're well. I also hope the isolation (if you're isolated) isn't treating you too harshly.

Peace & Love,

Adé