This is not an article, and it has not been researched. Unless indulgent introspection were a research tool. This, however, is a realisation that will resonate with all of you. A realisation of what exactly we have missed over the last few years.

Like most of you, I thought I had been fine during lockdown. Complacent for the most part in not needing much, and happy in my beautiful home, meeting friends on zoom and other social media outlets. Watching TV, eating well, healing from personal bereavements, reaffirming family values…. the list is endless. The list of what I thought had been the benefits of lockdown.

That changed this weekend when I was struck with what we already know. The reason why we have unanimously opted for physical meetings, facing and working with each other, rather than in tiny windows on pixelized screens.

It is our joy in human interaction. I know it sounds simple and rather obvious. The simplicity of this realisation hit me with a sharp blow last night, changing my very perception, altering my complacency in inner peace. I thought I was a self-sufficient island; I so obviously am not.