Rewording how we talk about the pandemic

Words matter. Our choice of words matter. The words we use can shape our perspective of a situation more than we realise.

As a writer and a sculptor of words, I wonder: what if we chose different words—more uplifting, optimistic words—to use when describing our lived experiences under the pandemic? How might we reframe things, so as to bring about mindset shifts that will tide us through these hard times?

So how about these:

From stuck at home to safe at home.

From staying home to protect oneself to staying away to protect others.

From social distancing to safe distancing to distant socializing.

From selfish hoarding to collective sharing.

From economic fallout to ecological renewal.

From loneliness to solitude.

From lockdown to personal retreat.

From shutdown to downtime.

From panic buying to mindful consumption.

From “What if I get infected by the irresponsible behaviour of others?” to “What can I do to boost my own immunity?”.

From “I heard my uncle/friend/dad say…” to “What are the facts? Where is the data? How do I follow the science?”.

I know some of the above aren’t dichotomous. I know sometimes we got to call it as it is. It’s okay to feel down and out. It’s normal. It’s a pandemic. It’s hard. We should acknowledge that. Yet, to help us get through the days, perhaps changing the words we use might help more than we realise. Now as we tend to swing more towards the former, more negative, doom-and-gloom types of words, it will probably be helpful to try reframing in a way that helps us swing some way towards the other, more optimistic side.

Words do matter.