This new norm, these elbow hugs, the foot bumps, the Zoom meetings, the pressure of smiling and giving off even more energy. People say that when one sense is dulled the others are heightened. I am finding it hard in these lockdown times. I miss touch. YES touch, not in any other way but I miss the simple high five, the fist bump and hugging. As South Africans our Eita is missing, our handshake followed by a shup and maybe a squeeze on the shoulder.
This has been taken away from us. So, we are left with hitting each other up with the one of the hardest parts of our bodies as a greeting. I for one am missing the old handshake and sitting close enough to someone to read their phone with them and being in proximity to say “dude, did you have garlic last night” I miss sharing a pizza with my friends in big groups and laughing so loud that you end up leaning on someone in a back slapping snort.
No these are different times, virtual times, “connect in other ways” times. What to do, so tonight I give us permission to do the following:
1. Go to social media and use your VOICE: go bake, do a 10-day challenge, run a block, and show off!! do it –
2. Hug the ones you are with. If you are not alone, go find someone in your house and squeeze them for a long uncomfortable time
3. Write a list of your top 3 people you would like to hug when you can, 3 people who are outside your home who you would love to spend time with and hug them hard. Then call them and connect and tell them that.
We are all in this huge porcelain factory that if we touch anything or anyone they may break; I miss picking something up off the shelf and feeling its soul and really looking into its essence.
I will have to patient but in the meantime. I hope this article TOUCHES you in some way that will make you FEEL a little less like a sense is missing but be able to Basque in touches we have right now:
The hand of a loved one
Our phone in our hands that make us smile
A leaf
A flower
The cold air in the morning
That warm cup in the morning
The words we use
FEEL IT FEEL IT ALL