My Dream of Re-Emergence
By Anna Wintour
My daughter, Bee, baking in quarantine.Courtesy of Anna Wintour
My daughter, who has been quarantining with me here, has taken up baking. She brought me fresh blueberry muffins just this morning. I know other people who are teaching themselves to play the piano, or learning a new language. Or starting to knit. Sitting down to more and more demanding puzzles. Why not? This is the time to try new things.
Sadly, I'm not one for hobbies, but I have started running again—and I do it every morning, sometimes with one of my dogs. Not very far or very fast, but my morning runs clear my head and give structure to days that have begun to feel perhaps a bit too formless and endless for my taste. Like so many of us, I am grateful and humbled by those who are working in essential businesses and on the front lines in medical facilities. We owe them enormous gratitude. And I know there are many who have lost loved ones to this terrible virus. The grief out there is real—but there is also a kind of limbo we're suffering under, a kind of malaise. Busy as one keeps oneself with work—and I do keep myself busy on that front—it can be hard to feel a sense of accomplishment or progress.
I have started running every morning to structure my days (not very far or very fast).Courtesy of Anna Wintour
The fact is that we are all missing things, big and small. We're missing restaurants, theater, and sports. We're missing fun. We're missing simple things, like the give and take of meetings with colleagues. Useful as Zoom can be, it's not the same as collaborating face to face. And I miss actual meaningful contact with friends. I, like you, I'm sure, dream of re-emergence.
But what will that re-emergence look like? I think we've all gotten past the idea that life will simply snap back to normal. (Except our president, who thinks we should try drinking disinfectant mixed with sunshine. To which I say, you first.) Our economy is struggling in profound ways and will be struggling for some time to come. As all the scientists tell us, this virus will not simply disappear.
So, we must change as we re-emerge. We must adapt. We have to. And I hope that change will be positive, that we will re-emerge thinking about what is meaningful in our lives. Will we be more practical? When it comes to fashion, will we want more of a uniform? Or will we be more creative and expressive than ever? We're talking about this a lot at Vogue. What do we value? What do we truly need?
We must change as we re-emerge. We must adapt. We have to.
I know there is a lot of anxiety and depression right now, and we will need to recover from that too.
Eat healthier, slow down the pace of our lives, appreciate family and friends. Life as we re-emerge can't only be about staying safe. It has to be about living well too.
And I believe—I profoundly hope—that our politics are changing. The nightmarish briefings from the White House are making this period we're living through so much worse. It's a daily reminder, as if we needed one, that the coming election is the most important of our lifetimes. We must choose new leadership, because we will only re-emerge if we have a president who we can trust, who can be honest, who has the capacity for empathy, and who actually listens to science. Please join me in supporting Joe Biden, whose experience and decency, I believe, will make him that kind of president, and who I believe will put our country on a path to recovery.
Biden also understands that the long term challenge we face is not COVID-19 but climate change. It's almost eerie how clear our skies are now. How much cleaner our air has become. What an irony that a devastating pandemic has shown us how to take care of the planet better than we have. My hope is that under a new president we will find a way to rebuild sustainably. We must.
It's almost eerie how clear our skies are now. How much cleaner our air has become.
So this is what I think about on my morning runs, as my head clears and the malaise ebbs. I think about the future with a sense of hope. I think about re-emergence. About coming out of this healthier, stronger, and more resilient.
TopicsAnna WintourCoronavirusAW WFH
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