Embrace “hunkering down”

By Liz on March 15, 2020

Good grief!  Here we are in a place I doubt most of us have ever been:  a global health crisis … a pandemic.  And while here in the U.S. we are not (at least not as of this writing) an epicenter, we are also certainly not an outlier.  Mostly, I don’t think we know where we are given the lack of testing compared to other parts of the world.

At my house, it is pretty much “as usual”.  I’ve worked from a home office for nearly 35 years.  As of this writing, I have no indication that my work will be disrupted, but I am not counting on that at all, at all and given that I did not work for 4.5 months last year, my reserves are not much so spending is currently for necessities only.  But, my pantry, frig and freezer are full, full, full – mostly thanks to the fact that I keep them that way over Winter and was just starting to think about “eating down” when things changed.  So, I continue the Winter grocery shopping paradigm.  And fortunately, I have not yet experienced much in the way of shortage locally … well, T.P. and hand sanitizer but I got a jump on the T.P. and I’m a soap and water person with a home water well so was not in the sanitizer market anyway.

As far as getting ill, I have low exposure:  I work from home, I don’t belong to groups and my main socialization is via the internet.  I am truly grateful for my internet connections!  Also for several wonderful neighbors as well as some townsfolk and small business relationships.  I feel incredibly fortunate in that I am both used to and prefer a somewhat hermit-like lifestyle. 

The worst thing I ever worry about is my animal companions.  Emmett and Auggie are well and in addition to the human foodstuffs in pantry and freezer, there is extra for them as well – thanks Chewy.com!!

I will say that Auggie-boy gave me a few more white hairs this past week when he pulled a late night … 1:00 a.m. arrival!

Completely out of character and routine and I don’t know:  he got shut in somewhere, treed by something, extra cat business … GAH!

Otherwise, I have read the science and the scientist recommendations:  social distancing, wash your hands … wash your hands … wash your hands.  All easy and doable for me.

Other than the pets, my worries are for people who do not have the resources to withstand the 60-90-120 days of whatever they must deal with:  work from home, no work, kids out of school, small business loss … and all of the trickle down affects of a drastic change in lifestyle:  work, play … life.

All of that said …  and I would not wish this virus or any of the negative affects on anyone … still, it is here and we must go forward as best we can … there may be some incredible things that come of this:

                The recognition that we do NOT need quite as many “public” events:  think of the $$$$ that are spent for political campaigning “in person” that we might now see happen virtually … and not only that kind of event, but also other business marketing events.  Do we really need to fly here there and everywhere to some conference, spending an inordinate amount of carbon budget when we could do just as well with a virtual event?  I.E. might we accomplish some climate change goals as we come to terms with dealing with the global health crisis?  Just imagine!!!  Greta Thunberg writes eloquently on this topic and has encouraged “online” climate strikes during this time of required social distancing, i.e. no gatherings.

                The recognition that many of us do NOT need to work from an “office” or other work location.  In the last 10 years of my work from home life, the amount of work we accomplish as a team via collaborative software:  Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webinars …  I am so used to working with others via the internet that I don’t even think about travelling for any work reason. BUT, even the technical world is not completely ready … issues of security :  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/silicon-valley-was-first-to-send-workers-home-its-been-messy/ar-BB11b9vj?ocid=spartandhp   In my personal tech world, we talk security ALL.THE.TIME, but we do not deal with extremely sensitive date or protocol, so I definitely see issues with a lot of businesses.  But, those can and will be resolved … remotely!

                The recognition that even socially, we *can* keep in touch via Facetime, Skype and other virtual solutions.  I am not advocating zero face to face/in person socialization, but especially in this kind of crisis and even as we all live further apart … there are earth friendly options.

                Telemedicine!  This option has been available to me from my clinic as well as my insurer.  What a great option!  So many times, I would like to provide information, receive guidance and onward!  Not only with my physician, but also my veterinarian.  Both have been good with this, but with my vet … things are not in place to allow fees.  As a consultant, who works on a $/hour, I have zero issues with being charged for phone/email/info exchange time and would rather do that than subject myself and/or my animal companions to a visit if not necessary.  Currently, drive-through COV-19 test sites are being set up/tested … I am unclear how far along they are, but WOW … wonderful innovation and adaptation to challenging times.

Earth friendly.

I do not have children and so also no grandchildren, that will be impacted by the atrocious decisions made by me and my generation.  But, I still wish to do what I can to mitigate the damage and inspire others to do what they can as well:  fossil fuel reduction, plastic/poly reduction, over consuming … I keep thinking that I’ve gone “green” and then I find that other thing that I use/buy/send to landfill …it is crazy-hard, but I believe, absolutely necessary that we all do as much as we can. 

The future is at stake.

As Greta Thunberg says:  “our house is on fire”.

It is! … and we need to stop thinking that the future will take care of itself.  It will NOT unless we, all of the people on the planet Earth, educate ourselves on the science of the current global health crisis as well as the climate change crisis.

We must change how we consume, how we live and interact.  That is, if we hope that planet Earth continues to be viable for future generations.

I realize that there are different views on how we do this.  I don’t intend to get into those.  There is a lot of information available on options:  food choices, product packaging awareness, travel options … and the impact of all of our choices.

Meanwhile, I think we all have opportunities to think of others.  If we are in a comfortable spot … is there a neighbor who is not?  Can we offer to share items or help someone get items?  And for those of us who currently do not have interruption of income or internet … how can we help someone who might have those issues?  In a time, when maybe our normal “entertainment” is disrupted … good golly … so much opportunity to think about how to help other people, to learn something new, to explore something that we have not because there did not seem to be time to do that.

It is difficult to remain positive all of the time as our “normal” existence has been so drastically altered with the added uncertainty of how long it might go on. I think it is important, now at the beginning, to think how I can/will combat frustration, anxiety-depression at not being able to do things as I’d like.

We can focus on all of the things that we cannot do …. OR we can focus on all of the things that we CAN do. I am making a list of things I CAN do to keep in front of me.

It is a challenging and sometimes scary time, but there are also incredible opportunities to learn, to help, to consider change.