Is this the new normal?
I snapped my right index fingernail in half late last week by jamming it in a door. I started hopping around my living room, tears streaming down my red, hot flushed face and screamed out loud. The cat ran away from me and hid in her black heated igloo. The boyfriend ran toward me, wondering why I was screaming blue murder.
It bled like crazy and has been sore for several days, throbbing, keeping me up at night while I’m trying to sleep.
It’s more than a broken nail; the pain has made typing a challenge.
And at the same time, I’ve been dealing with my first cold/virus of 2021; a cough, sore throat, strained back, headaches and sinus infection. I think I got man-flu if I’m honest. Yup, it was that bad.
We as a society have been bandaged up in cotton wool for over 12-months now; I’m not used to feeling unwell and seem to have a lower tolerance to it. To being sick. To stay on top of life while being sick. I’m out of practice and not loving it.
It’s also no longer socially acceptable to go out in public with the sniffles — we get the looks akin to steeling an old ladies handbag or stabbing someone in broad daylight in the street. I’ve been guilty myself of screwing my face up at sick people walking around sans mask. And if I see someone sneeze at the airport, forget about it. It’s just not on.
It got me to wondering, is this the new normal?
And if so, what the deal, the rules, with leaving the house during the flu season?
Are there places we can’t go to—that are worse than others—like the gym huffing and puffing with a runny nose or cough? Or the airport?
Are there a new set of social norms we need to abide by — further to those which are law, local body authorities or recommendations by companies?
