Lockdowns! Are they lost time - we can never get back?

In reference to the current lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, I heard a radio commentator lamenting about the “lost time” that we will “never get back.” The phrase lost time caught my attention and kept re-sounding within my mindbody, giving rise to the question: “Is this time of lockdown really lost time?”

While bearing in mind the immense physical, emotional, and economic ramifications of the lockdowns upon the personal and collective lives of all concerned, the question for me was: is this time of lockdown “lost time” . . . or is it perhaps, “different time.” Or, . . .could it simply be “time,” with no adjective?

I know that for me this 6th lockdown has been the most emotionally gruelling one. Does that qualify this lockdown as lost time - that I can never get back? As I pondered that question, my response was: “no.” Why? Because for me, this lockdown is simply time; time that I am living. I am living in a different way at this time of lockdown, but I am still living. So, my life is not on hold during this lockdown. Rather, this lockdown is part of my life.

I am grateful to the radio commentator who made the comment regarding lost time because it shook me out of an emotional dryness, into remembering that each day is time to be fully lived, in whatever form “fully” is able to take, on any given day. In turn, while I am not grateful for the lockdown, I am grateful for my life at this time.