Russell Bell: Current uncertainty around Covid framework will hit us all differently

If you are hoping for a Covid Protection Framework green light, we may not see that here for a very long time, writes Russell Bell. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opinion:

There's a song that we are practising for our band, Vinyl. It is called 'Round Here' by Counting Crows.

Last week during rehearsal I found myself directly applying the following line to our collective and current situation:
She says, "It's only in my head."
She says, "Shh I know it's only in my head."

Quite why this rather innocuous line had such an effect I could only unpack after the practice, in my now commonplace two-hour-plus wind-down once I got home. The answer was a term being utilised by commentators across many professions – "languishing".

Languishing is to 2021 what burnout was to 2020 and the root cause of it is the virus of Greek names but unknown origins. And it is something that more and more people in our community are telling me that they are feeling – and the introduction of the foggy and amorphous 'traffic light system' won't have helped many.

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Dealing with uncertainty is now as certain as death and taxes, and it is exhausting for many. It is exhausting in different ways – primarily because we all live different lives and have unique challenges and opportunities.

Granted, there are some people who love lockdowns and want us to remain in our international bubble forever – mostly people whose lives didn't markedly get affected financially or vocationally by lockdowns – but they are dwindling in number, particularly in Auckland.

But the growing majority have had enough and want to move on. But I think it is the fact that this health crisis has such a long tail and a growing sense of permanent uncertainty which is creating pressure and mental health issues for many.

Indeed, the emergence of the new variant, Omicron (or "OmiGod" as I call it, due to the fear and media hype that is accompanying it), further emphasises the permanence of ongoing challenges that our most well-known virus presents.

The traffic light inequities announced on Monday are seeing events cancelled and tough restrictions on businesses. I call them inequities because there is an element of punishment for us, given that we haven't had a Covid case since autumn 2020, and yet to our east and west, communities which have had (or currently have) active cases are in the more "free" orange light.

By the way, if you are hoping for a green light, I think it is safe to say we may not see that here for a very long time. In fact, given Delta's transmissibility and the impending travel spread of Aucklanders, there is a high likelihood that other communities will join us in red – so my concerns in the previous paragraph could be rendered moot.

But all of this plays on your mind one way or another. If it doesn't you are either on an island or you are taking medication that the rest of us would like you to share with us.

But back to Counting Crows (and "Round Here") - many believe the song is about mental illness but, for me, it is about recognising circumstances and challenges and realising that you have an identity, people who support you and the community can help you overcome. I am not suggesting that "languishing" is a manifestation of mental illness but that feeling you may have is real and others are going through it. But most of all, someone will "catch [you] if [you are] falling" (the important closing lyric).

If things are getting tough, reach out. The best thing you can do is talk to someone - even if you have a small sense that things aren't right, through to whether you think things are getting too tough. But recognise that, even though the impacts of current times and uncertainty each hit us differently, we are in this and will overcome it together.