Adrift In Time
The effects of COVID-19 are widespread and disparate but, sick or well, one common symptom has been a radically altered sense of time. For some, time drags; for others it passes with disturbing rapidity. And almost everyone has trouble remembering the day of the week.
For some, the problem is tedium. A lack of change and novelty will often affect a person’s sense of how much time has passed. But those in essential front-line roles may have the opposite experience, dealing with more in a few hours than they are used to in a normal week, and feeling as if a huge expanse of time has passed.
The structure of everyday life, its commutes and gym classes, school drop-offs and religious services, Friday nights out and Sunday afternoons at the football game, has vanished. The days all seem alike. Weeks and weekends blur. This makes it much harder to anchor ourselves in time. ~ Ian Phillips, Johns Hopkins University