The last few weeks has made it clear how much our lived experience shapes our view.

Victorians experienced cases spiralling out of control and the traumatic events that followed. They remember the fear and it was a lot easier for them to imagine any cluster becoming this again.

Most in NSW had grown used to small clusters being contained and, for want of a better term, "living with the virus". Our attitude must have been intolerably apathetic to the threat. But it was based on our lived experience. We all felt like we had seen this all before.

I don't think there is a "right" way to have reacted. I just think everyone reacted based on their lived experience.

If something hurts you, you are forever more conscious of how much that hurt you than someone who has never been hurt by it.

Sometimes that caution can serve you well to protect you, sometimes it can hinder you in your life.

Sometimes confidence will give you a great life, sometimes it will be your undoing.

I guess my main point is that we all, me included, need to understand that our lived experience across this country has been different during this pandemic.

That varied experience of the past necessarily colours how we experience the present.

Let's maintain our empathy.