Will our lives return to the normalcy that it was before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing suffering from its devastating effects on the health, economic and psychological grounds?

This question continues to linger in people’s minds and in their tongues. The loss of a sense of safety and reassurance as well as an increase in cases of insinuation and anxiety have become features associated with the general situation through which a large number of people are passing while encountering the devastating virus.

There have been changes in the patterns of work, education and social gathering, in addition to losing the pleasure of traveling abroad, which is an issue that has become far-fetched today in light of the escalating talk of complicated travel procedures.

These procedures may include a health passport that proves the receipt of the vaccine and a process that will take not a little time. Moreover there is also the lack of emotional contact with friends and members of family.

I contacted the other day a friend who works in the field of psychiatry. After the traditional queries about the health and other personal matters, the area of talk with him turned into the core of his field of work.

On this matter, the friend said that he is witnessing a rising tide in the number of visitors to his clinic and their cases vary from sleep disorders to urinary incontinence to chronic anxiety down to deep depression.

He said that the sharp surge in these types of cases is mainly because of the fear of the unknown associated with the general condition of coronavirus.

There has been an increase in cases of deaths that even hit the very close circles, with cases of death happening to certain specific names in our familiar circles apart from just the statistical figures or an increase in cases of infections at an alarming level.

There are waves of both hope and frustration that occurred with the start of the vaccination campaign and then coming to a half after rescheduling the vaccine’s arrival to different regions of the world for reasons related to the tremendous pressure on the vaccine manufacturing companies.

Likewise, there has been much talk about the disparity in the efficacy of some vaccines with the emergence of mutated strains of the virus.

It is clear from the cascades of mandatory phone applications that life will never go without them. Some of us are not ready to realize the reason for insisting on downloading these apps as it was evident from a query made by my friend.

The friend, who received his vaccine doses successfully, asked me why he was being insisted on downloading the Tawakkalna application and preventing him from entering the markets and shops without this app.

His argument is that he is immune to infection after receiving vaccine jabs and hence what is the point of insisting on downloading the application by one who has successfully received the vaccine?

It is clear that our past lives that we were familiar with have changed radically. I write these words in realistic letters that must be confronted. As for optimism and hope, those who find them, please send them to us!