By Theo, 24, London, UK
These past few weeks have brought to surface a real sense of uncertainty within all of us. Whether or not it spawns directly from the restrictive social measures imposed as a result of the recent pandemic – this oppressive sentiment has deeply impacted my everyday life and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
My roommates and I have taken up to cooking, exercising substantially more than we usually would, and found a lot more time for the small trivial things we wouldn’t typically consider as ‘self-care’ by any standards. As a household, our entire outlook has drastically shifted. Away from the constant drive for the ‘next big thing’ in terms of social engagements or professional commitments, and towards the fact that we must make do with what is at our immediate disposal within the confines of our small apartment, for the next few weeks at least.
In the immediate future, this will directly affect my ability to earn money above my base salary, a key feature of my job. This will undoubtedly leave me with a reduced expendable income for several months as I am forced to build my pipeline back up, while covering the same fixed costs.
In the long term, the profitability of my company will have to recover in the same way, likely meaning fewer opportunities for raises and promotions over this period. There is the possibility that this will have a lasting effect on my career, in terms of taking longer to reach a comparable level.
I believe that this effect will be far on greater effect on others in my generation, especially young freelance professionals, or those whose academics will be delayed or hindered. The earning potential of these people will be hit badly in the short to mid term.
It's a strong belief by my generation that many of the worlds leaders will use this pandemic to warrant social or private monitoring along with reducing the little privacy we already have to 'protect against future risks and/or threats'.
Ending on what I hope will happen and the change we believe should come from this is that we as a collective should use this pandemic as a lesson and a stepping stone to invest further in our public/national health care systems. That we use this to learn how we can work together as a global community and create a platform where we share knowledge in medicine and come to each others aid when in need.