It’s 35 days today that I’ve personally been mostly self-isolating because of the virus. I say mostly, not because I’ve been hanging out with oodles of people, but because I have been out in public- few doctors appointments, a trip or two to the store, but that’s about it. It would be so easy to self negotiate reasons why it’s ok to do this or that, but I’m trying really hard to contribute to the slowing of the spread. It can wait. Nothing is so urgent or needed that I feel that it’s ok to change what I’m doing. I know that plenty of people think that this is either a.) an overreaction b.) a big nothing burger or c.) the rules don’t apply to them. It’s not my job to be judge or jury to those who chose to not social distance or to bend the rules in their favor. I’ve thought about it a fair amount, but at the end of the day, all I can do is be ok with what I’m doing and just keep doing these things, aka, just about nothing.
35 days of basically working, sleeping, eating, walking George and repeat.
Is it fun? Nope.
It is restrictive? Sure. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I knew that I unintentionally got someone sick because I personally couldn’t stay at home to slow down the spread. That’s me. For once, I am a rule follower.
Truthfully, I’ve been training for this 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown for four years now. Since May of 2016, I’ve had 4 major surgeries and 2 minor surgeries. 3 of the 4 major surgeries had me pretty much-stuck home for the better part of 6 weeks each time. In the past 365 days, I’ve been home twice- one for the right ankle repair in May and once in October for the left. Each time, I was home 90% for a minimum of 6 weeks and the October one, I was home for a little longer, just because it sucked. I guess I started doing the social distancing thing a little earlier. I was an early adopter? I don’t know. It was just required for me to heal and to avoid getting the cooties while my body was healing. Science seems to make sense to me- diminishing risk for my own personal health makes sense, so why not do it for the collective?
Professionally, this has been an intense time as it has been for everyone. I don’t know a single person who hasn’t had their career impacted some how by this virus. Seriously, I don’t know anyone working right now, that hasn’t had big changes to their jobs. People I love have been laid off, put on furlough, taken reduced pay, working totally differently, working from home, not working, etc.. It’s far reaching. Does it suck? Absolutely. Is it forever? Nah. We will rally. It’s what we do.
But for me? Not that terribly hard. I live by myself all the time. I work from home, and have been forever. I have been trying to keep on some kind of routine- get up, walk Georgie, work, eat, work, work in my gardens, go to bed. I have a collection of cozy casual clothes that is really making me happy. I have enough books, projects, crafts, skin care to keep me busy for at least 6 months. Would I love to meet friends for a brunch? Sure. Am I going to do that? Nah. I’ll see everyone when this is over. It’s not like we have anything that terribly exciting to talk about, right?
Instead, I’m going to keep my ass at home, enjoy the spring weather, play in the dirt and try to keep reading more and playing Cookie Jam less.
The upside of all of this? My closets have never been more organized, my dogs are loving the nonstop interaction. My gardens look great and I’ve had a lot of time to think, plot and plan. Thinking about my life and what I want to do next. Plotting my financial/retirement strategy for the next 20 years, and planning how to reengage with life after this. I really think we should be using this as an inflection point- a time to really take a long hard look at life. It’s not always the easiest thing, but if nothing, maybe we could all take this time to figure out life a little bit more. Spring has always been about growth, rebirth, fresh starts- maybe we should use this time to think about it is our own personal spring? Be safe and stay the hell at home, ok?
