Have you made positive changes to your life due to coronavirus?
Recently I asked my Facebook sources if they’d made any favorable changes to their lives since shelter-in-place orders related to COVID-19 went into effect.
Yes, they have.
If it seems an upbeat question about a deadly pandemic, of course I realize the seriousness of all this. I’m not brain dead.
What I am is wary, careful and scared — mostly because of the random nature of it all, the specter of medical and economic disaster lurking around every corner, the uncertainty about what our futures will be like.. I’m also the primary live-in caregiver for a medically fragile, 94-year-old stroke survivor, which adds another layer of complex emotions.
I see those huge vacant buildings and parking lots. Closed businesses with terrified owners. I know many people who are out of work, out of money and almost out of hope.
It’s heart-wrenching, almost beyond belief.
But I can’t control any of that or the reckless, sometimes dangerous things some people and politicians are doing these days.
All I can control are my own reactions and actions. I practice social distancing when we go out, which is rare. I wear a face mask and, when appropriate, gloves. And I wash my hands over and over and over.
However, in my own mind and life, I choose to accentuate the positive, to find the ray of hope, the shining silver lining in the dark sky.
For instance, we’ve been enjoying some post-lockdown changes we made that have been making our lives more pleasant.
A few minor tweaks meant we now regularly use and enjoy a previously ignored area of our home: the living room. (How often do you use yours?) It’s become a welcoming alternative to the heart of the house, the big dining table in our great room.
But back to my question.
Within four hours of my posting it on Facebook, I had 41 responses, and they just kept coming.
Some respondents sent sweet, grateful answers about feeling and being closer to their live-in family members than they experienced before in their busy lives.
People said they’re cooking and baking more, with an emphasis on sourdough bread — when they can find bread flour.
But Starr Heiliger said, “Our big improvement has been to eat through our freezers, enjoying the fruits of labors past. But I am getting tired of figuring out how many ways I can use spaghetti sauce.”
Some folks are reading more, and finding pleasant new spots in which to do it. Others are crafting, Netflix binging or Zooming with friends, relatives and coworkers. Some people are finishing long-abandoned projects.
Dick Marshall said he’s finally completed some carvings.
Former Cambria Citizen of the Year Linda Tonkinson said she’s finished “three long-neglected quilts and one wall hanging. I am currently working on a fourth quilt that I abandoned eight years ago. I also now know why! (But) am determined to get ’er done!!!”
Gardening is high on some to-do lists.
Dianne O’Quinn Burke said she’s “loving my home and surroundings ... but weed pulling almost beyond my abilities to bend! Got new cordless mower which seems will be a plus ... mowed over the cord of old one!”
Sharon McCartney said her prized achievement during all this is that she’s “improved my gopher annihilation abilities.”
Exercise is now a priority for quite a few.
Kathleen Jones said, “I do the Blue Zone Diet and exercise,” so her change was “really perfecting 400 different ways to fix beans. LOL!”
Mary Ann Anderson said she’s been “walking so much — like the ‘French Lieutenant’s Woman’ — that I’ve lost three pounds and gained three calluses on my feet.”
And then there are the house mods.
Jeanette Olmos said, “We’ve lived in this house for 10 years, and we finally put Adirondack chairs on the balcony! I’ve been enjoying morning coffee there and my daughter has attended a couple Zoom classes on the deck.”
Magician Rick Bruce wrote, “I’ve been slowly getting my wizard roost unpacked.”
Industrious Brittany Hensley said she’s been busy doing “new floors, planting new trees and shrubs, painting everything ... remodeling like crazy!”
Meanwhile, Brigette Olmos-Arreola said she “donated our rarely used guest bed to a local family in need and turned the empty room into an office.” She’s also “fostering a senior cat and fostering-to-adopt a kitten,” both from Cambria’s Homeless Animal Rescue Team.
Sandi Gross-Pound summed it up well, I think.
“I have learned to appreciate patience while waiting in line at 6-foot intervals,” she wrote, and she’s learned “humility while viewing the bravery of those who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of the rest of us.”
Well said.
What about you? How are you finding the positive during coronavirus? Let me know!
