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During the COVID period, observations of both our therapy sessions and ourselves have shown us how we relate to events in the external world much faster than usual, and, in some cases, in a radically different manner. In March 2020, the general public mood changed in a matter of days. In the period immediately before the restrictions, the majority of people were very uncertain about how great the danger was, whether there was any danger at all, and then suspicion and fear took shape. One thirty-five-year-old doctor told of something that happened to her at this time:
“As a doctor I'm a bit more circumspect, so I went into a shop wearing a mask. While waiting in line at the cash register, I could feel people gazing at me suspiciously, and I felt awkward, so I said: ”I'm not ill, I'm just trying to be careful.“
Wearing a mask wasn't yet compulsory, and it even provoked antipathy in many people. At the time, it meant not that somebody was careful, but that they might perhaps be ill, and represent a danger to others. A couple of days later, schools were closed, and masks became obligatory. With this the public mood changed almost from one day to the next. From then on, a mask was expected, and symbolized taking care of other people; somebody might feel awkward if they didn't wear one. Not long afterwards, the mask acquired a new meaning: for many people it became a symbol of a curtailing of their freedom.