100 days

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Today marks 100 days of living in COVID-19 lockdown for me. It is a new normal, and I am getting used to it. The changes in routines and habits no longer seem strange, but I remember how it used to be — and that is reason to pause and reflect. My fingers are crossed that we are in some sort of mid-point in our COVID-19 living experience, so I’m using this 100-day mark to take stock. 


When teaching, I do an informal mid-term course evaluation with the students and then close the course with a formal evaluation. The data I gather from the mid-term check-in tends to be more useful: We are still in throes of the learning plan; no one is checking out yet; and we all know there is a further distance to travel before our destination is reached. 


I use a simple format to get input from the students: I ask, What should I keep doing? What should I stop doing? What should I start doing? So, I’m asking myself the same questions about living under COVID lockdown: 


KEEP being creative: Make collages, write blog posts, make meals


STOP being so sedentary: Get up and out by walking or biking. For a short while, I got up early to walk through the neighbourhood, but I have slipped out of the habit. Exercise doesn’t have to be epic; I just need to do it — to get moving. 


START re-imagining the future: The province is opening up in stages, but I don’t trust that it will go seamlessly. I believe the second wave of the Coronavirus will hit us hard — harder, even, than the first time round. We now know what lockdown is like and if we have to go back into it big time, it will be that much more challenging, precisely because we will already have been there. So, the opening up is fraught for me. Yet, I can’t stand still, and I also don’t want to rush back into past patterns. Therefore, I shall wear a mask, maintain social distancing, and plan for continued working from home in September. 


If I keep, stop and start all of the above, I settle myself into the driver seat, putting myself less at the mercy of the big bad virus and the fools out there who think it’s nothing but a hoax. 

100 days in, we know a few things: COVID-19 is real. Politicians don’t necessarily make the best leaders. Women make great provincial health officers. And, finally, being smart about lockdown restrictions and routines gives us the best chance of being at peace with this evolving new normal. Because the old normal is not coming back. 


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PHOTO caption: The photo is an excerpt from my 2016 vision board; the quote is a snippet from a conversation between the Downton Abbey characters Violet, the Dowager Countess, and Martha, mother of Cora, the Countess of Grantham. Violet, of "What is a weekend?" fame, makes a hopeful statement; and Martha offers a prescient response. 

Comments

  1. FintaJune 24, 2020 at 1:22 PM

    So glad I found this today. Usually it turns up in my morning mail! Perhaps I scrolled past it.
    I would have much the same answers as you. Except for cooking, I’m not very creative. I do get out for a walk almost every morning, weather permitting. So maybe I ought to have a look at that chair exercise video and tuck it in to my schedule a couple of times a week.
    One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m spending far less money, just by staying home. Removal of temptation really works!

    Get thee behind me Satan — and push!

    ReplyDelete

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