The World Is On Hold, But You’re Still Alive

The world is on hold.

Pause.

Here we are, bewildered by it all. Frozen in time while life goes on. Don’t make any sudden movements. Inhale your fear and exhale your hope. It dissipates out of you and floats into the open abyss, languid and unassuming. The world is on hold and we continue on somehow. We don’t know any other way. We want to make sense. We want control. Answers. We want to know that everything will be fine. How are you? I’m fine small talk. How’s the weather? How’s your job? Back to the way it was, back to the way it never was. We were born pretending. Please don’t share your pain with me. I can’t bear the burden. We avert our eyes on the sidewalk. We don’t wave and we don’t smile. We talk shit behind each other’s backs. We blame, we lie, we cheat, we scream, we cry, we fall apart. We post a photo with a witty caption, thinking we’ve fooled everyone. I’m good, life is good, it’s fine. With curtains drawn, behind closed doors, behind our armor of choice. Cheers. We should do this more often (but we won’t!). We were already disconnected and alone. Call it “quarantine” and make it official, make it mandatory. We’re just as trapped as we were before. Now we’re just escaping something new.

Now it’s real. Now we are forced to confront it.

Press play.

There’s no time left to waste. Do what you said you’d never do. Do what you thought you never could. Fuck it. Be who you were meant to be. Feel something, do something, want something. Make mistakes and try again. Make more mistakes and keep trying. Just be someone. Be free and be real and forget what the world told you.

The world is on hold, but you’re still alive.