Daily writing prompt
What’s a moment that made you question reality?

Josh and I have the same answer to this question. Questioning reality for us was asking ourselves, “Is this really happening? What is going on? What’s going to happen? What do we do now?” And that happened in the days leading up to the Covid lockdowns. As the world started to shut down, it was a very surreal experience doing every day things like going to the store.

The shelves were bare. Not a package of paper towels, toilet paper, or other cleaning product could be found. Non-perishable food was also scarce.

During the lockdowns, a trip to the grocery store was very eerie. I remember walking through the parking lot of Walmart and hearing a recorded message being broadcast outside. The message was about social distancing and how to keep safe while shopping. It was reminiscent of those apocalypse movies where messages from the government are broadcast for the survivors of whatever happened.

To use a word that was said on the news frequently back then, this was a very unprecedented time. Nobody had experienced something like this before. It was scary. It was unnerving. It was confusing. There were so many things to feel all at once when watching the news every day. It didn’t feel real because it was such an extreme thing to happen that none of us seemed to be prepared for. What’s crazy about it now is that since we’ve been through it once, we know what to do now if it happens again. Of course, that is not to say we want it to happen again. And hopefully none of us will experience it ever again. Global pandemics don’t happen often in history so perhaps it will be hundreds more years before our future generations have to deal with one. Makes me wonder what would cause a pandemic hundreds of years from now. Will it be another virus? Or maybe it will be a zombie apocalypse. Enough movies and tv shows have been made about zombies that maybe they’re onto something that legit could happen. According to the conspiracy theory loving husband of my cousin, there’s a page on the CDC website that specifically discusses zombies. I’ve seen it, it actually exists. But I digress.

The Covid pandemic is what made me question reality. Made me ask, “Is this really happening?” Because it seemed so far-fetched in my mind. Stuff like this only happens in movies, and yet, it was real life. A reality that I truly hope we don’t have to live again.

Want to help me accomplish my dream of being a paid writer? Buy me a coffee!

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

7 responses

  1. I will let you know this, my knees are bad so when the zombies 🧟 come I will offer myself as tribute so people can get away.

    1. 🤣 that’s fair. I’ll probably do the same when my prescription meds run out.

      1. We can do it together and quotes movies to each other to lessen the pain of it lol

      2. 🤣 Absolutely!

  2. It was a very surreal time – looking at those pictures of empty aisles was eerie
    🙌 yes let’s hope it doesn’t happen again

    1. It was similar to the shelves we see when a hurricane is headed towards us, or when we’re expected to get snow. But this was a lot more aisles with bare shelves than the ones during storm prep.

      1. Oh yikes! I forgot about hurricanes
        We don’t get them here in NJ – mostly snowstorms

Leave a Reply

The author

Middle-aged Maverick is indeed middle-aged and she’s proud of it. She has a tendency to over think and over analyze many of the things she encounters in her life, as evidenced in many of her posts. She knows how to drive a stick-shift car, prefers Coke over Pepsi, and spent many of her adolescent years being obsessed with Jim Carrey.

Discover more from Middle-aged Maverick

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading