After the peak of the epidemic, I returned to normal, and I had to travel/study abroad/make more friends/change jobs ... "Since the COVID-19 epidemic began to spread, such things have made people feel ear inflammation. For many people, it is not others but themselves who keep repeating these things, which makes people feel tired. These speeches on the premise of "waiting" sound full of high morale. However, in the long wait, such imagination has gradually become a means of self-comfort, which makes some people actively choose to escape and delay in their "abnormal" lives.

On February 16, 2020, a pedestrian opened his arms and enjoyed the sunshine in Chu Qing after the snow. China Youth Daily Lu Chong/photo

Last year, when the epidemic just happened, few people could have imagined that COVID-19 would have such a serious impact on human society. Therefore, when people begin to predict their life trajectory after the epidemic, they often have concrete and realistic expectations, but they don't realize that these expectations will gradually become vague and illusory in the endless waiting.

People who have experienced the SARS epidemic are likely to think from experience that eradicating the epidemic is only a "small goal" that is not far away from us. However, as COVID-19 raged around the world, many varieties with stronger spreading power appeared one after another, and the optimistic forecast was dashed. In China, the people of the whole country are united as one, and through strong prevention and control measures, the local epidemic has been successfully suppressed within the controllable range of normalized prevention and control, and a relatively normal life has been restored for most people in China. However, if the global epidemic ends and human society returns to the previous "normality" as the standard, no one dares to judge how long we have to wait.

When many people can't reunite with their families in early 2020, their wish may just be "to take their families abroad for a trip after the epidemic". If we find someone who was so eager at that time and ask him when he thinks this goal can be achieved, he may think that it only needs to wait until summer. However, with the passage of time, people's speculation about the "end of the epidemic" has changed from 2020 to 202 1, and from 202 1 to 2022 ... When we are on the runway of time, the "finish line" we want to reach seems to be running with us. Some people compare waiting for the end of the epidemic to "waiting for Godot" in combination with literary works. This subtle metaphor not only reflects that many people are actually trapped in this waiting situation, but also reminds us that if we pin all our hopes for achieving our goal on "the end of the epidemic", it will be difficult to restore health and normal life.

If we want to rank the negative impact caused by the epidemic, the article "Completely disrupted people's life planning" may rank second, second only to the infection and death directly caused by the virus. Social epidemic prevention, travel ban, home office, limited social entertainment, shrinking industry ... all these have made many people's lives.