By Jon Durant, marketing coordinator, rnr Wellness
Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Open. Closed.
This vicious circle has been going around for the last year. Countless businesses and livelihoods have been affected. Countless lives have also been lost. Suffice to say, it has been a year that very few of us will ever forget.
This June, business will be allowed to start to reopen again. “Normal” lives will be allowed to begin again. And hopefully, it will be the last time we ever have to see a “closed” sign again.
Now with that said, and with all those signs turning around, and proudly showing those “Yes, We Are Open” words, it should also give us all a moment to pause and ask, “Have we turned our closed signs around? Are we open to new ideas? New possibilities?” This last year we have all experienced countless changes and revisions to our daily lives. Do we really want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic? Are there some new ideas we could embrace?
Before the pandemic, we seemed to be very much a self-centred world, everyone trying to advance their personal worth, stature and ego. There seemed to be more care and effort put behind “me” instead of “we”. However in the last year, there has been a noticeable change in society and we are actually taking care of each other. Whether that meant a global effort to develop a vaccine, teachers conducting classes from their living rooms, people of all backgrounds coming together to protest racial injustice, first responders working all hours and shifts to assist those in need or just the countless video calls with our family and friends. We have all come together, as one community to care for one another which has inspired hope and nurtured a far-reaching wellness that has touched so many lives.
So as the world reopens again and we all attempt to get back to our “normal” routine, let’s not forget what we learned during the pandemic and how it taught us all to be a kinder, gentler, more inclusive human race. Be open to those ideas and incorporate them into your lives moving forward. I know the world will thank you, your neighbour will thank you, your kids will thank you and you will thank you.
Yes, we are open. Let’s stay open. And let’s never close our hearts or our minds.
