If you believe in God, you may think this pandemic is His way of re-organising the world. If you don’t, you probably still feel it’s nature’s revenge. And if you are a conspiracy theorist, you’ll believe anything. Whatever is happening and for whatever reason, the world will never be the same again.

We have been metaphorically stopped in our tracks and are being asked to reassess our lives

You remember when something would go wrong on your computer and the person in IT would tell you to switch it off for five minutes and then switch it on again? Well, it’s hard not to feel that’s happening right now, that the planet is going through a reboot. We have been metaphorically stopped in our tracks and are being asked to reassess our lives. We express ourselves now, to our family and to our friends, in a manner we didn’t only a few short weeks ago. We no longer take things for granted and we are genuinely interested in each others’ wellbeing.

Charity is now at the centre of our hearts

We lived in a world that had become drunk on commercialism and selfishness. Charity is now at the centre of our hearts. My phone is burning up with WhatsApp messages of creativity, solidarity and fun. It’s the modern version of calling in to check on your neighbour. It has brought out the best and worst in us. But as the days go by, the good is by far outweighing the bad. A very unpopular Government is governing us with true inspiration and we are responding in kind.

I have washed my hands so much that I think I can see the cogged notes I wrote on them for my Inter Cert

I get anxious at around 6pm every evening waiting for the latest figures to emerge, hoping and praying that we are flattening the curve. Do you? I am so conscious of social distancing that I try to stay as far away from other cars even when I am driving. I have washed my hands so much that I think I can see the cogged notes I wrote on them for my Inter Cert. We have been humbled by this virus. The bitterness and hate which riddled social media has dwindled to a trickle, bar those who still think they know more than medical experts.

We are respectful of the law and of the tasks which frontline responders are performing to save us all. We always knew the Trojan work doctors and nurses did on a daily basis, but we lived in an “I’m alright, Jack” world, where it was all about “me first”.

We can’t go back to the way we were

We are comforting to those who have lost jobs and what’s more, those that have been forced onto social welfare, have done so, with dignity rather than with anger.

The post-COVID-19 world will be less about me, myself and I. We can’t go back to the way we were. And maybe it will focus minds now about how fragile this world is and how we need to take big challenges such as climate change seriously together. And the past few weeks have also brought home to me the importance of two professions in which I’m deeply immersed, the mainstream media and farming.

The rebooting of the planet is painful, but we will come out of this

Two much-maligned professions, particularly in recent years, have been shown to be vital in these emergency times. There must be a broad realisation now of the important role of protecting public service broadcasting, alongside our farmers and food producers, into the future. The rebooting of the planet is painful, but we will come out of this and face all the economic and psychological challenges it will leave in its wake – and we will do so together. It is OK to feel anxious and helpless. But at a time when we are social distancing, we are virtually holding hands all as one.