End of quarantine and return to normality: those who fear him

We have longed for the return to one normal life. But now that we can finally see little glimpses of normality underneath the whale, it’s a hard thought to admit: I’m hardly out anymore. Isolation turned into comfort zone. There are different situations, it would be difficult and reckless to generalize the reasons that can lead to this fear. Indeed, for many, this state was probably suspended, somewhat similar to adolescence, in balance between childhood and adulthood, says Valentina Di Mattei, clinical psychologist at San Raffaele Hospital and associate professor at the University. Vita Salute San Raffaele in Milan. Suspension also refers to obligations and responsibilities, for this reason it has its own charm that keeps it desirable in its regression elements. Just as true, continues Di Mattei, which for some was also a time of positive rediscoveries, of more fully lived family ties, of inhabited houses, of found objects, such as old photo albums. They are pieces of his own identity that found no space in the frenzy of life before quarantine. Now it is difficult to launch back into the stream, abandoning these aspects. Understandable, but maybe not enough to reverse, as someone passes, choices that seemed imminent, like living together or moving home. If quarantine has represented a sudden slowdown, it is normal for the most unstable objects to fall and for balances and schedules to be questioned. For those who had the resources to do so, it was almost a period of “self-examination,” concludes Di Mattei. It will not be a coincidence that even the retreats from silence and the discernment of spiritual traditions are modulated for forty days, a quarantine, in fact.