Letter for the New Normal

Fear, anxiety, and stress these are the temperament I felt during the Corona Virus

Disease outbreak or most commonly termed as COVID-19 Pandemic. It brought me shock in

my daily living that changed my everyday routine. Work from home, quarantine, social or

physical distancing, frontliners, and new normal are just few of the newfangled terms I

always hear whenever I go outside our home. The news are quite disturbing for the reason

that the COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly in actual fact that there have been 2,740,111

confirmed cases and 41,237 deaths reported to World Health Organization (WHO) as of the

13th day of October 2021 (World Health Organization). This pandemic brought us a lot of

deleterious atmosphere but viewing it to a bigger and better picture, personally, there is

always a light in the darkest corner of the room.

My attention was drawn to the undesirable consequences that this pandemic exposed

in front of my eyes. Undeniably, I was concerned about what was going on in the whole

country. I was contradicting the idea that COVID-19 is real. I was repudiating the

circumstance that the death rate in the Philippines was increasing rapidly. I was blinded by

fear but little did I know that there are a lot of progressive things happened while I was

focusing on the whys and wherefores of the distress I felt.

Conformity to the protocols is impossible to tell apart to obedience, this is the first

statement instilled in my mind to test my tractability to rules. This pandemic taught me to

listen to the announcement of the protocols through the ambulance masquerading as a police

mobile or in vernacular (bisaya) called “Ampra.” Always wear facemask whenever you go

outside your houses, observe social or physical distancing, violators will be penalized with

whole day community service or may perhaps pay Php. 500.00 for the first offense, Php.
1,000.00 for the second offense, and Php. 1,500.00 for the third offense. These are just few of

the announcements every person hear for the period of this phenomenon.

I also observed that every Christian, if I’m not mistaken, in our barangay felt the

thirstiness to go to church and worship God. Actually, I joined a revival fellowship

commenced by Salvation Baptist Church (SBC) on Mt. Calvary located at barangay

Kibalabag, last February 12, 2021. Even if I was caged with anxiety, I still have the

enthusiasm to join, for the reason that this is the time to surrender myself and terminate the

fear I felt during the pandemic. Auspiciously, I am rejuvenated by the words of wisdom from

the bible imparted to us by the preachers.

Taking everything into consideration, those silver linings I mentioned were just some

of the prolific events happened in my life during the presence of COVID-19. I have no idea

about the battles you are encountering in your life, I have no clue about how cruel is COVID-

19 to you but I am sure that there’s always better and greater things happened to you that the

negative impact of this pandemic cannot equal. Remember to always look to the bright side

and surrender yourself to God.