Rabbit Costume by Ryan McGuire @ Gratisography

COVID-19 took away my crayons. Seven months into this quarantine and the world has lost its colors. Everything looks and feels gray.

Save for the grocery runs that I do once every two weeks, I’ve never set foot in a mall since March. I’ve never went beyond the borders of my city to visit our favorite weekend getaway. From the time the lockdown was imposed I’ve never seen my parents, both septuagenarians, living in the countryside.

Since this pandemic began, bliss has left the building and if you offer me a venti caramel macchiato today, I’ll look you dead in the eye and ask you what it is because I’ve honestly forgotten what it tastes like. The birds and the bees simply are just not there anymore.

I’m sure I’m not the only one struggling with this sentiment. I’m sure COVID-19 has took away your crayons, too. And no amount of reading COVID-19 coping tips and tricks will bring them back.

But guess what, I woke up this morning with an itch to try out a new chili recipe. I have all the necessary ingredients and all I needed to do was tweak some seasonings. I’ve got this itch to do something new and it just wouldn’t go away till I scratch it. So here I am, five hours later, dipping nachos in my new improved chili masterpiece.

The point of the story?

For all its virulence, maybe COVID-19 has brought me the itch to try out something new. For all the dreariness that this pandemic has brought us, it brought me this strong desire, albeit impulsive, to improve my chili and stop being complacent about the ordinary.

This compulsion can come in many forms. Maybe for you it would be setting up your own home garden. Or baking sourdough bread.

Could it be that COVID-19 can also bring back our crayons?

Don’t get me wrong. COVID-19 destroyed our lives. No doubt about it. But if you’re living in quarantine for months, sooner or later you will get that itch, that drive to do something. To go beyond the ordinary. So many others have done it. The countless small-to-medium business enterprises that have sprouted during the pandemic are a testament to that. Even tofu and rice cakes are now offered online via Facebook pages.

For all the miseries that the pandemic has thrown upon our trail, I know that we’ll soon see a rainbow. And when we do, I’ll be damned if there will be no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. All we have to do is make something powerful, something out of the ordinary. To improve on what we have. To be creative even in these trying times.

Enthusiasm in the face of dreariness. Finding your crayons even during a pandemic is what will make you succeed and keep you alive.