Social distancing and isolation have shown me how important touch is for us. The simple ability to receive touch and touch someone we love was so natural pre quarantine that I am sure most of us took it for granted. The simple act of holding hands and being able to kiss someone we love without the virus lurking over is a feeling that I will personally be looking forward the most after quarantine is over. Thus, I believe that the days after quarantine are going to be defined not by the experiences that we missed out on, such as going to the beach or going to Starbucks, but by the ability to finally touch and hug those we love with complete freedom.

The sound of beeping machines and unrecognisable voices was all that I could hear, my eyesight was currently useless. I thought I was dead? I tried to move, nothing worked. Instead I lay there in absolute awe as my awareness slowly grows.

The lockdown has been tough on everyone. I'm referring to those in the first world countries who are experiencing a huge shift in lifestyle. It's no denying that we continue to adjust to this new normal that never seems to have an end.

The colours morphed into blue and purple with hues of pink, leaving him with a light-headed feeling in a supposed world that had no pauses. Soon these colours would slowly change back to a void and lonely black which would ultimately signal the unwelcome news that he was back to reality.

I was born in 1989; a cross between a shining star and a guardian angel my mother said. I grew up in an average family home and I had what would be considered a normal upbringing. Even before I became fully conscious of self; before I had the words to be, I strongly desired the extraordinary over ordinary. I studied Economics and Business Management but I wanted to be a supermodel living in New York so I left home at 19. Home was a small city in Nigeria called Portharcourt. I left home with a one way ticket, $300 and a heart full of dreams. I failed at that and moved back to my small city with a tired heart and no savings. I moved ahead filling my time with my next dream of greatness. I started a spinning studio; but I failed at that also. In 2014, my sister died and she took the optimistic part of me with her to the grave. I broke in ways that no verb can describe. I became a passive being. Going with the flow. I did not put any conscious attention to anything; how to be a person or how to love or how to fight for a dream or how to have passion. I let it all go. I was just a body with no soul. Looking back now, I felt as though I was sleep walking for years without waking up once. That is the best and simplest way to describe this to a third party.

After disinfecting the remote control for the fourth time today because my mother has been coughing a little too much recently, I turn on the television. It hums a little loudly as if sighing from exhaustion.

The sound of silence was truly deafening.

The Joy of D-Rated Movies!

Kias

Some moments in life are perfect, no filters required. This midwinter sunrise was one of those moments. For me, it wasn’t just a stunning sunrise that I captured on my mobile; it was also the most precious moment with my family. 

But I was wrong. I moved to Plymouth in April 2019 (my fiancé had moved in in March) and I was really excited to begin my adulting life, just us two. And to be fair life was going rather well to begin with, we were both loving our jobs and loving living together and being independent from everything. We enjoyed a date night once a month and lazed in at the weekends.