A bazillion of (in)appropriate jokes has been circling on the internet since the very conception of this Covid-19 induced social – distancing, a lot of them being weird scenarios for couples that  doomed to spend all of their time together now. One of my favorite jokes is about two friends chatting. 'Where's your husband?' asks First. 'He's in the garden', answers Second. 'But, I havent's seen him there', wonders First. 'You'll have to dig a little', answers Second.

Luckily for us both, Ado and I are very much used to being together all the time, both at work and home, so in that sense, this so the whole situation doesn't affect that aspect of our relationship. Moreover, it has improved, since all football matches on TV have been cancelled, followed by minor withdrawal symptoms on Ado's part and a silent ovation on mine.

Inescapably however, all sorts of posttraumatic issues were expected to emerge sooner or later. Ado's fear of being hungry, deeply rooted in real life 1990's Bosnia, started kicking in as early as mid Febraury, when the threat of Covid-19 seemed too far to bother the rest of us and it resulted in some of the weirdest pantry items, which I'm ashamed to name publicly. For me, however, this recalls alot my very own social-distancing 7 years ago, when I had to give up many social activities for as long as it took, due to a premature baby with health issues. Sometimes it feels as if I had been trained for this, but this is not a drill and the anxiety of having to deal with life-threatning health-related situation which is completely out of my control is very palpable. Switching on the survival modus means me refusing to leave the house under any circumstances, even though we are not under an official lock-down.

One thing I remember from 7 years ago is that the key to saving one's sanity is keeping oneself busy and occupied with things one enjoys doing. That's why, next to mandatory creative experiments in the kitchen I immeresed myself into finally finishing INAT's website and writing for the sake of the soul. 

The universal truth, which most of us, including me, tend to forget in the times of abundance and prosperity, is that physical freedom is just one of many forms of freedom and it makes all the sense now. 

Next to the somewhat wrong jokes, an unhealthy amount of cliché texts about how this is all good for natural balance and interhuman values has also been shared on social media. But if you ask us, it is just another reminder that nothing in this world has ever been static and everything is constantly prone to change, which makes our carefully maintained comfort zones, no maater how well cushioned they are, mere glass houses on top of a landslide. Which is ultimately a positive idea if you give it enough room to settle and reveal itself in its full glory.