Tag: 4th of July

This year, the 4th of July marked more than just another holiday. It signified the beginning of independence — not from England, but from the devastating pandemic we have just gone through. President Biden had made the 4th of July a target to get 70% of Americans vaccinated, but it looks like we won’t reach that goal in time. Still, for those of us who got vaccinated, it has meant a chance to begin to live the lives we had before the pandemic — to go out to dinner with friends, to have family over for a BBQ, to go inside a grocery store instead of ordering online, to even return to work in an office.

We are not quite home free, however. The Delta variant of Covid-19 is becoming more prevalent in the U.S., and it is believed to be more contagious than the previous virus. The fact that some people have not been vaccinated means that Covid-19 has had the opportunity to grow and change in that population, potentially exposing even those of us who have been vaccinated. We are not 100% protected, so some safeguards like masking and social distancing continue to make sense, even though most states and communities are acting as if Covid-19 never existed.

While we celebrate, it’s worth thinking about how our lives have changed and what we can do to maintain the things that worked for us. After going through a year of deprivation, isolation, and anxiety,  we are faced with taking stock of our mental and physical health. For many there is a sense that life not only cannot but should not return to a hectic pre-pandemic pace.  Our lives slowed down and a lot of us liked that. We learned that we could still do work without driving or flying somewhere to do it. We learned we could manage our time at our own pace and not someone else’s. We learned to say no to requests for our presence and our time, which was a welcome relief to many.

As we evaluate the changes we have made and hope to make in how we live our lives, we have a perfect reason for making those changes. We can say with confidence that the pandemic taught us what was necessary in contrast to just “nice to have.” We can truly be independent from all manner of social constraints that used to annoy us. We can honestly tell people that we don’t want to go out to dinner, not because of fear of contagion but simply because we don’t feel like it.  We can literally prune from our lives people and situations that used to make us unhappy by just saying no. No additional excuses needed. Now that’s the kind of independence that will make a difference.

We would love to hear from you about how you are dealing with your new independence. What are you keeping? What are you discarding? What does this Independence Day 2021 mean to you?