I'm probably not the only one tired of hearing about coronavirus. I can honestly say the shelter in place thing is not much different than my retired world. My list of things to get done hasn't gotten any shorter no matter how much I get done in any one day. In fact, I keep adding to it, an annoying practice I picked up a long time ago. As for social interaction, all I have to do is go out to my front yard to work on something and everyone who drives by, stops to chat. From a safe distance. I still take the dogs for meander walks in the middle of nowhere, like usual. I even played golf the other day and since my golf game is really rusty, I managed to stay far away from my playing partner. The only things I miss are seeing my little mother, who can't leave her place, and hugs. I miss hugs.
But this will pass and I'm hoping people learn something about themselves they can use when this all dies down. I feel bad for the people who feel like they don't know what to do with themselves because their lives have been so caught up in work and just going, going, going. Now they have to spend time with their families, getting to know more about them in a way they may have forgotten is possible. It's not all crammed into the weekends. I hope everyone can now take some time to reflect on how great it is to slow down and breathe, to appreciate the little things. Like the sound of a meadowlark talking to other meadowlarks across a field. Or stopping to watch and marvel at the grace of a pair of red tailed hawks circling overhead.
In all this it's easy to get caught up in all the things we can't do. It's way more gratifying to get caught up in things we forgot we can do and embrace the wonder of it all. I know I have picked up the phone and called people I haven't talk to in a while. When I'm done, I wonder why I hadn't made the time to do it earlier, before all this. It's not like I couldn't. I just didn't. Hmmm, see how self reflection resets what we hadn't realized we lost somewhere in the busy world of living. Follow that?
Anyway, we have a great opportunity to find the joys in life and take time to know what's really important. Revel in it. Or like my dogs do, go roll in the grass and moan because it feels so good. I did that the other day and while I'm glad no one saw me, it made me feel like a kid again. And when I stopped, I looked up in the sky and smiled. Yay!