Moving on
I will remember my life in two parts: Before COVID & After COVID
As I release my latest book about how far society went during the COVID era, I reflect on my own life over the last three years.
In my book I share that the COVID pandemic response led to the biggest mental health challenges on my life. Even greater than surviving high school, starting a career or becoming a parent.
But these last three years have also changed so many aspects of my life more than anything else that has ever happened in my 35 years. We all go through stages of life when our life changes a lot. We get new friends, we lose some, we become new people. But the COVID years changed so much for me it is hard to explain. It’s probably the case for many people.
I feel like when I look back on my life when I am 90, I will remember it in two parts. “Before COVID” and “After COVID”.
I definitely think that my life “After COVID” is much better and I do think I am a happier more fulfilled person than I was four years ago. Going through these last few years being outcasted by most of society has not been easy but it has given me mental strength that I will have forever. I made deeper connection and real friends that I can sincerely believe and trust. I became awake to so many other lies and narratives that I believed before 2020. My immediate family is closer, stronger and much more intelligent (thanks to being awakened and because my children benefited from homeschooling).
But I have also lost a lot. Maybe not lost. But walked away from things.
Like many I’ve had to end relationships. Even close family relationships. In many circumstances, differences can be put aside for important relationships but it appears COVID has changed this. Now, many people hold differences of reality which I find impossible to reconcile.
People I would have gotten along with a few years ago appear completely foreign to me now. It’s impossible for me to maintain a relationship with someone who views reality so vastly different than I do.
The people I lost through this pandemic are the ones who believed everything about the COVID narrative including the idea of putting health restrictions ahead of relationships. The people who bought into the COVID vaccine hysteria and believed I was dangerous/selfish/deserving of public humiliation for my choices.
Some of these people probably still think I should be humiliated and excluded from certain aspects of society for these choices.
One person whom I had to walk away from recently emailed me to ask if moving on was an option. But in the same email, said that they did not regret anything they said or did…
How do people move on, when there is no regret?
Maybe they expect me to accept that the way I was treated was actually for my benefit. For my health? Maybe they think my reality is warped. Or maybe they refuse to look at the data that shows lockdowns were a complete disaster and they somehow still think I was the crazy one for opposing them.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter if I am right or wrong. But it’s clear that we hold different versions of reality. Or one of us is just profusely lying to ourselves.
Life is way too short to waste any time on a relationship of this nature. Can I get along with someone today who thinks what happened in 2021 was okay? I don’t think so. Do I have any desire to rebuild a relationship with someone who thinks it was okay to fire and ostracized millions of Canadians? No. Do I want to catch up and have a drink with someone who still thinks we should put masks on our kids all day and upend their lives just to lower their risk of getting a mild cold? Nope.
So the solution is to simply move on with the people that are important. The people that are honest with themselves. The ones whom, even if they were wrong in 2020-2023, have accepted the reality of their mistakes.
But to a very large segment of society that wishes that we can “just move on” or “agree to disagree” on vaccine mandates, forced masks or lockdowns, that is impossible.
COVID certainly divided society like no other event of this generation. I’ve struggled internally with this for a while now. But I feel a sense of relief when I accept that maybe this division is just here to stay. Maybe there just isn’t a way to reconcile with the ones who live in a different reality.
Rejean Venne is a regular newsletter providing insight and analysis on Canadian issues. Please consider becoming a subscriber.
I was there in Ottawa, that was the turning point. I met a few remnants of the local convoy at a New Year's Eve party in Ottawa last month. I wrote to JJ Couey that I'm constructing a jig saw puzzle that keeps expanding on me. The thing to remember is that "they" have unlimited resources only until they don't. The lies/illusions/delusions run deep, through several generations and maybe beyond. My faith in Christ kept me going, it's that simple.
I too was ostracized by family and friends during the pandemic, and as you so aptly describe, emerged stronger, clearer, and with better relationships. The question I continue to ask; is it possible to reconcile the impossible? And maybe it isn't about reconciliation at all but a willingness to listen to people who don't think like me.