There’s a deadly disease spreading all over the city of Melbourne. It’s happened before, and honestly, we’re no stranger to it anymore, but it doesn’t get any less scary. When it first spread 1.5 years ago now, it was kind of considered to be a joke. We didn’t take it seriously until it came to Brighton.
We thought we were safe in our Brighton bubble. I remember very clearly joking around with people at a day party in summer that I wouldn’t play beer pong so that I wouldn’t help spread the disease. I was so naive back then. These days you can’t go anywhere without being concerned about the disease. I can’t even visit my car mechanic anymore. I’ve decided to go with the safer option and request that a mobile mechanic local to Brighton come to my house to service my car so that I don’t have to leave it. This is something that I never would have even considered two years ago. Our lives have changed irreversibly now.
I wish I could say I wasn’t afraid, but I am. I’m scared of what is going to happen to me and my family. I’m scared of what people are going to say about all of this and the judgement people will get for doing something wrong. I’m just scared. I wasn’t this scared this time last year, but it’s just gotten progressively worse. I don’t know if any of us will truly recover from this. Brighton will never be the same.
I guess we all just have to keep our heads down and worry about what we can control, rather than what we can’t. For example, I can control whether or not I play beer pong at a party, visit the local car repairs shop in Brighton or choose to get the mechanic to come to me.
It’s reminding myself about these things that helps keep me grounded. Otherwise, I would spiral out of control because of the anxiety.