Covid-19
Covid-19, Corona virus, Pandemic, however you want to describe it. Our world has changed. The streets are quiet, grocery store shelves are empty, schools are closed and life as we know it has seized to exist. We are now told to wear masks when out in public and grocery store clerks have plastic wall barriers. What kind of sci fi movie am I living in? I don’t have to sit here and describe the eerie feeling that comes when you step outside the safety of your bubbled home, we’ve all come accustomed to it by now.
To add on to this I am also coming home from working in the hospital to middle aged parents without health insurance and my son. My scrubs stay at the hospital, I wipe down my bag and belongings with disinfectant before leaving, I place my “reusable” mask it its brown paper bag and head home to shower before greeting my family. For health care workers world wide this our new reality. As a new nurse this was far from how I expected my first year to go. Just over here trying to learn how to chart, assess my patients, figure out medications oh and lets throw a pandemic on your plate while you’re at it too. So for all my new grads out there I SEE YOU. And for all my seasoned staff out there I SEE YOU TOO because no one taught any of us how to handle a pandemic in school… well if we’re being honest did they really teach us anything on how to be a nurse in school (you all know what I’m talking about).
It’s a scary time in the world right now; to be a health care worker, to be a mom, to know someone who is compromised, to be someone who is compromised, to be human.
I read a poem today by Kathleen O’Mara that was published during the 1918 Spanish Influenza:
And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth also began to heal
And when the danger ended and
People found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.
So go, take this time to find a new hobby. You know that thing that you always said you wanted to start doing but never had the time to do? Yes you, I know you’ve said it. DO IT. Find the book about it, become an expert in it and when this is all over go out and finally do it. We might not be able to travel right now but we can make plans. Do the research and make your dream itinerary. Parents complaining about their kids being home 24/7, trust me I feel you with every lack of patience I have left, but I promise this won’t last forever. Take advantage of this gift we’ve been given. The gift for time; for family dinners, for game nights, for baking cookies and reading books, for unscheduled late mornings without rushing to the bus. Because one day the world is going to go back to normal. Teenagers are going to skip Friday night dinners to see their friends, husbands and wives will go back to working in their offices away from home and suddenly the slowness that we started to enjoy will be nothing more than a chapter in our history books.
But maybe it won’t all go away. I hope that we can all find something from these weeks of isolation. Maybe you started that new hobby, or invested in a new side business. Or maybe you decided now was the time to make all your dreams a reality. Don’t let fear stand in your way. So what are you going to do with your today?