DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?One thing I don’t think Covid-19 gets blamed for enough (admittedly it’s a short list) is the Acceleration of Middle Age. For our generation, who generally flick two fingers at the notion of ageing like our parents, lockdown has been a rude reminder of our true place on life’s path. Nursing a sourdough starter on a Saturday night has a subversive edge if you’re in your 20s. Over 35, it’s a sobering prompt that soon enough you’ll be getting off on this stuff for real. Granted, the Acceleration of Middle Age (AMA) might not be the worst of Covid’s crimes, but it’s a daily assault. All that shuffling around in slippers, without a festival or gig in the calendar to signal your enduring youthfulness - if only to yourself. All those grey hairs previously hidden by regular highlights, now outed. And for some of us, ALL that home schooling, proving beyond any reasonable doubt, and with the neighbours as your witness, that you are not, nor ever will be, the cool parent you secretly thought you were. It’s been… confronting. ‘Is it the perimenopause or the pandemic?’ has been my stock question over the last year as I feel the rage bubbling. Pre 2020, the word ‘perimenopause' featured even less in my vocabulary than ‘pandemic’. But that’s AMA for you, prematurely ripping off the band-aid of blissful ignorance, just as Covid has challenged many other aspects of our identities too. These three articles explore how the pandemic has reshaped our sense of self. As we mark a year of lockdown for much of the world, I thought you’d like them… ‘Am I unemployed woman, an entrepreneur or a stay-at-home-mom?’ I read this after a big project suddenly vanished at the start of the pandemic and it rattled around my head for days afterwards. It strikes at the heart of what so many working mothers have grappled with. Not the sanity-stretching practicalities which have been much documented, but the secret assault on our sense of self. If that's you, it's well worth 5 minutes of your time… ‘These two friends live in the same city’ is a touching reflection on the kind of friend - and person - you want to be, prompted by the sending of spontaneous cards. I wish I had done something like this. And hey, looks like I’ve still got time… ‘Long Covid forced me to confront my past and my identity’ When Kathryn Bromwich caught Covid-19, it was the last in a long line of physical challenges she’d endured. Her writing is brave and broad, conveying just how many expectations women carry, and her own refusal to conform to any narrative but her own.
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