Fr Jim Cogley
The experience of lockdown will have meant different things for different people. For some of the lucky ones it may have caused very little disruption in their lives and they could go about their business very much as usual. For others it may have provided a legitimate excuse to become even more isolated and reclusive that they were already and for such persons the real challenge will not be lockdown but re-opening. Lots of others may still be struggling to understand what exactly was happening to them during this time of enforced isolation. Unconsciously, they may have been forced to revisit significant portions of their earlier lives that were similar. Boarding school was a horrible lockdown experience for many and the echoes of that time may well have been felt. Feeling trapped in a difficult or abusive marriage can leave a trauma that this current trauma may well awaken. Living a life to fulfill others expectations and not being true to myself is to live a life of permanent lockdown. In fact any situation or work where I felt trapped in the past is likely to be re-experienced in the present with the emotions buried at the time now coming to the surface. A good question to ponder might be, when did I feel like this before?