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The recent return to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) was a blow, not only to Singapore’s reopening but also to the collective mental psyche of the nation.
Despite this heavy disruption, we were asked to continue to put in our best foot at work and at school.
Surely this wasn’t a sustainable situation. We were going to explode eventually.
When Joseph Schooling failed to defend his 100m butterfly title, there was encouragement, but also a number of others looking for something to blame.
There’s no need for that. The Olympics were held in extremely exceptional circumstances to begin with.
Singaporeans, it’s time to realise that we need to be a little kinder to ourselves and to others.
We shouldn’t need a tragedy for us to realise that Singapore’s obsession with being the best was going to rear its ugly head during a global pandemic.
There’s no way that anyone can function at their best while having to deal with everything going on recently.
It’s not to say that we shouldn’t give our best — but we should not be too harsh on ourselves or on others if we don’t live up to expectations.
It’s perfectly okay to not be okay during this time. And it’s okay for all of us to put less stress on each other too.
Students shouldn’t be expected to continue studying 2 days after a tragic incident took place.
Employees shouldn’t be expected to regularly exceed their KPIs or risk not securing their promotion or bonus.
Why is it that we are in a pandemic, but we’re setting expectations as though we’re not stuck in one?
This goes for the Government too. It’s admirable to want to be the best and reopen sooner, but please — let’s be kinder to ourselves if there are setbacks.
Otherwise, our collective mental psyche may not survive even if we manage to reopen.
From a struggling Singaporean,
Hong Zhen
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Featured image by MS News.
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