I am not a Superwoman, but I want to make a difference

Saturday, 28th of March. I was so determined to put my mind to ease. To be honest, I never thought working from home is so challenging.

A few years back, I remember talking about working from home. As Jakarta gets more and more crowded and traffic jams become a constant struggle that most Jakartans face, I said sooner or later we ought to think about working from home. Shait! I should be very careful with what I said. Now what I said become a reality and I hate it!

But enough whining. So I was watching Prime Video when a text at our Emergency Response Team chat room beeped. The text featured an announcement made by the Governor of Jakarta, announcing that state of emergency status of Jakarta has been extended to the 19th of April! Bummer I said (that was not my exact word by the way). When he said the status was until 2nd of April, I wasn’t happy. Now he was extending it to the 19th of April????? What the fruit?!?! What am I going to do, I said to myself. Then I answered, work of course. But that’s not what I meant.

What exactly did I mean? You see, I like to be in control. I am probably a control freak to a certain degree. But this COVID bloody 19 spreads faster than celebrity gossips and I felt hopeless and useless because I couldn’t do anything. I probably always thought I have some kind of a superpower that can control anything that happens and steer it to the direction of my liking. Well Gita, your imagination is a bit too much and too wild because in reality I don’t have any superpower nor have I a magic wand that when I said abracadabra everything I was thinking and wishing would become real instantly.

If I can’t control this virus from spreading, then what can I control? My response towards it, towards the effect this virus has. Yes, I can’t make it stop spreading, but I can contribute to reducing the spread by staying away from the people I love who live in different houses, my team, my friends, my family. I can help the volunteers and the people whose income is affected by it. So let’s join our hands to help.