COVID Doldrums & The In-Between

There are days when I’ve felt highly opinionated about many things: politics, laws, immigration, the intent of our founding fathers, how much whipped cream I can safely pile on an ice cream sundae before it tips and spills all over my shirt and shoes—to name a few. 

But now, with the COVID mess going on, those things don’t seem quite as pressing right now, except, maybe, for the ice cream sundae. 

Lives are at stake. People are struggling to deal with and make sense of the madness, a madness that started about the time toilet paper started flying off the shelves, and other necessities disappearing in bulk, leaving many people without. 

We are living, breathing, sleeping, and being bombarded with COVID updates by every news organization.  

Even our social media pages are flooded with it. 

Any of you NOT know how many people have tested positive for the virus in your country? state? county? city?  

I have three browser tabs perpetually open to keep track of them all, frequently refreshing those pages and waiting for the moment when this virus levels out. 

When I heard the news how COVID -19 may be around for a few years, its rate dropping in the summer then resurfacing in the fall, and I thought back to how these last several weeks have been spent, I was disappointed in myself. 

Yes, I’m able to work from home, so I’m still rather busy. Part of my disappointment was that I haven’t tried anything new or re-tried something I previously enjoyed but had given up due to what had become my normal hectic pre-COVID lifestyle. 

There are recipes I’ve not yet tried. So many good books to read. Ebooks I could download in mere seconds that would give hours of entertainment. My guitar sits there untouched except when I dust it (though I did pick up my bass today for the first time in months and play along as my Alexa device blasted some old favorite songs.) I have craft materials packed away from when I enjoyed making jewelry; notepads of old poetry that still have blank pages needing to be filled; clothing patterns and even some material to make a new face mask or dress, shirt, or robe; and clothes hanging in my closet that might be better put to use if bagged up and dropped off at the local thrift store. 

Maybe it’s time to document your experience with daily video updates that you save for posterity. We are, after all, going through a pandemic of historical importance. Having that video documentation of such an event for your children and grandchildren to see later may, at the very least, prove interesting. 

If we look around our homes, there are many constructive yet fun things we could probably do during this down time. 

If you’re an essential worker, you’re likely still experiencing some of this downtime, since the theaters are closed, most restaurants are closed to inside dining, and places like Disneyland, town libraries or brick and mortar bookstores aren’t open to peruse.

Even if it’s just picking up a notepad to see if you can still draw, why not try it?  Etsy is full of homemade goods. Crafts can be sold online, put on display in your home, or hidden in the trash if your first attempt doesn’t go as planned.

Remember that book you always promised you’d write one day? “Today” is that day.

It could be written, edited, and published before this virus is over.  

Some of us are out of work. Some, out of money. Some, maybe, even running out of food. Isn’t it time to check on our friends and neighbors with a friendly phone call or email? 

I read a post the other day about how we are NOT all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm, on different boats, having different experiences. I agree.  Some are out there working in hospitals and nursing homes, every day risking their own health and lives. Some delivering food and packages, likewise risking health and lives. Others, working from home. And then we have many who are out of work, unable to hit the gym or hike their favorite trails, instead binge-watching Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video or dusting off the old XBox, while learning important lessons such as: home cooking can, indeed, make you fatter and feel more sluggish than fast food dining.

During a time such as this, it can be just as challenging being cooped up with the same few faces twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 4.2 weeks per month…as it is to be alone. But not always. Sometimes alone is much worse. 

Perhaps we can’t physically check on our neighbors who live alone, but we still have phones and email. 

Maybe this in-between time might be well spent getting to know our friends and neighbors a little bit better, using those phones and emails to check up on the people we care about?

And maybe, some of this down time can be spent getting to know our selves a little better, too: Rediscovering our talents for art, crafts, music, cooking, writing, organizing…or finding new home based hobbies we’ve always wanted to try but couldn’t find the time. 

It’s better than sitting in limbo staring at the TV for the latest COVID updates until you feel like the zombie apocalypse is upon us. And who knows? You might discover or rediscover a talent for cooking, or publish the next great American novel. At the very least, you may end up pleased with all the extra room in your closet once those bags of seldom worn clothes are dropped off.

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