People are Having Trouble with Self-Isolation Because We’ve Become Too Accustomed to Convenience

We want what we want and we want it now.

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

You can get pretty much anything you need at your fingertips today simply by tapping your phone. You can order a car and have it arrive to the exact spot you’re standing, watching it on your screen as it makes its way to you. You can order food so you don’t have to learn how to cook. You can order clothes, tech, games, books, paper towels, toilet paper (except right now) and cleaning supplies right to your door. And, heaven forbid, it takes longer than three days to reach you — how could the company be so careless and cruel?!

People have become so used to having everything they want when they want it that they can’t handle it when forced to give it up for a temporary window of time. And, that’s the word. Temporary. We aren’t going to live like this, most of us safe in our homes, for the rest of our lives (although, anxiety likes to tell us otherwise). This is just a temporary way of living.

People have become upset because it takes them longer to go to the grocery store due to restrictions like how many people are allowed inside, how far away you need to stand. Mad because the restrictions are put in place to keep them, and everyone else, safe. They just need to pop in and out, so why should they be there for any longer than they think they need to? Except, no one should be ‘popping in’ for anything right now. Most of the things people ‘pop in’ for they can live without. Does it suck living without salty snacks? Absolutely. Is it probably better for you, anyways? Absolutely. Chances are, you can live without whatever it is you needed to go grab.

We’re acting like spoiled toddlers, mad because we can’t have that candy bar, a child throwing a tantrum because we can’t go out to see our friends. Screaming because we’re stuck in our warm, comfortable homes with a plethora of things to do, even if we don’t want to do them. Being left alone with our thoughts becoming too frightening a thing to fathom.

Of course, some people have it worse. Domestic abuse, loneliness, anxiety, depression, lack of proper nutrition. These are also the realities of self-isolation. These are not the realities I’m focusing on…