Viral video about the pandemic

Julie Nolke a YouTuber and comedian recently made a comedy sketch video that when viral sometime in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this video, her future self visited her past self just before the pandemic went global to explain to her what to expect and what to prepare in the coming months without explicitly telling her what is actually going to happen. In keeping with the spirit of the time travel paradox, the future self is rather vague. However, we all know that she is referring to the oncoming pandemic as everyone around the world is already living in one.

It’s really hilarious seeing the past self reacting and determining what the future self is trying to imply here and her reactions to its cryptic messages. But underlying all these I feel is the fact that we all wish we could be the future self, telling our past self to prepare for the inevitable. The rate at which this virus is sweeping around the world has upended our lives in such profound ways that we barely had time to pause and reflect what is actual going on and how we are going to live our lives around the pandemic. Things change so quickly that we had to adapt to our new situation and calibrate our lives to a new normal where social distancing, temperature taking, contact tracing and wearing of masks is the new normal. Virtually overnight, these new measures have become part of our lives.

Personally, it has never occurred to me that our lives can change in such a short period of time. And this video largely encapsulates that sentiment. If my future self visited my past self, I will equally be just as confused as it will be a situation that is unheard off. Yet, here we are, living in a dramatically different world from a mere six months ago.

This pandemic is one for the history and is a story to tell our future kids and grandkids in the years to come. The pandemic may not be as deadly as past pandemics, but it still has the power to devastate many livelihoods in many other ways.