This is a work of fiction in the form of my journal entry set in the future. All events and situations described here are purely imaginary and any resemblance to an actual situation or event is purely coincidental. March 21, 2025 Over the last three decades, societal changes and shifts have undergone two distinct acceleration … Read more

Commuting is more infrequent and undesirable these days. For most people, this option is more difficult that working from home. Many companies are now having smaller offices that are spread out across a city.

In so many different ways, COVID has shaped our lives and has forced us to adapt. Work, home, entertainment, social lives, shopping, consumption patterns have all changed due to this disease. The changes don’t even seem to be changes right now – they’re just how things are.

If I look back now, I wonder why I could never stick to daily journalling before. After all, a lot more had been happening in my life then. Little things like going to the office, meeting colleagues and friends, going to the park, or sitting at a café for hours together – these seem like rather rare occurrences now but were routine earlier. And if I couldn’t find something worth recording then, I’ll certainly not have anything to write about now.

On this day, five years ago, I began to chronicle an event that by then had already been designated as a pandemic but hadn’t yet completely turned our lives upside down. Even during the days leading up to this day five years ago, I thought we were standing on the threshold of something that was historic, not in a comfortable, rosy sense, but historic nonetheless. I thought I should record the events as they unfold around us for my own sake, if not for the sake of posterity. I remember some of my own thoughts as I sat at my desk compiling the day’s news updates relating to COVID-19 and faithfully writing them down each night.