I wrote my last post on this blog exactly three months ago... quite many changes happened in our lives since then.
Due to COVID situation, at some point half of global population was locked, or partially locked, at home. I can still consider myself to be lucky: firstly, because Switzerland did not put in place as restrictive measures as some other countries, and secondly because I could work efficiently from home. Furthermore, I don't need to worry about economic perturbations until end of my contract at EPFL, while some will struggle... not mentioning people who lost their loved ones.
Having said that, let me show the positive side of this new situation.
EPFL was officially shut down on Monday March 16. It was the day when I was supposed to start another fatigue test with French colleagues (which we still hope to run towards end of this year). As one of the most important features of human being is adaptability, on that day I grabbed my laptop and notes, and locked myself at home. Since the nowadays wisdom is stored in memes, I heeded this one (no idea who did it):
As long as it is not certain whether Shakespeare really wrote this tragedy during the plague (though probable: https://go.epfl.ch/kinglear) I think it really fitted my situation.
Now, two months later (time flies!) we are slowly leaving the confinement. As for me, one paper is submitted to the journal, another one should be in few days and two others are well advanced. I was even able to come back to the laboratory in beginning of May, so another fatigue test is ongoing.
I think that there is a good lesson we can take from this whole situation. As far as most of us are not directly affected with COVID-19, it's rather the indirect influence that we need to face - change of our daily routines. But no matter the circumstances, we need to look for positive aspects, adapt and push forward.
Stay positive!
