Observations Into Week Two

Well, there's no way that I cannot talk about our current world situation right now, especially as I'm trying to make sense of things as they are.  Everything else that I've tried to start right now veers back that way.  I have made a few observations:

• When typing the word "tested," it's VERY important that your fingers are accurately placed on home row and that you confirm you have indeed typed a "d" instead of a second "s" in its place.  I've seen that, now, on a couple of different Facebook posts and had a giggling fit for about twenty minutes apiece as a result.  I remember nothing else from either post except that beautiful typo. 
• There are literally so many options of free things to do if you have reliable internet--virtual museums, the Met streaming opera, academic articles are available through JSTOR, other streaming services opening up free trials during this time, celebrities reading books to children, folks livestreaming classes and other content, Picard is available on CBS Live, etc.--that I genuinely feel overwhelmed by it.  I feel bad that I am not adequately taking advantage over all of these things, hitting some serious executive dysfunction until I decide to do what I would normally do for an evening in anyway.  So I feel better for having that brush of normal, but I also feel guilt for not throwing on some Wagner while I could.  
• I think we all have a better appreciation for the work that content creators for YouTube, Twitch, or whatever other streaming service that you frequent do in not only making entertaining/informative content, but also in how well they balance sound and other factors.  Good audio balancing is perfect when you don't even realize its happening.  Good editing is very apparent when you watch a video without it.  I've been more than one meeting where someone could not figure out the mute button or with someone whose setup seems like it must be in an empty auditorium for how much everything echoes.  By the end of this, maybe some folks will be better at conference calls, at least.  
• On that note, it's a good time to suffer through the initial setup of different connection programs with your loved ones, particularly those that are a little less technologically savvy.  Will it be a frustrating hour?  Likely.  But once it's done the first time, it'll be far easier in the future to connect or at least figure out EXACTLY how to word instructions for next time, even if it involves a printed and mailed copy of said instructions (with pictures).  I've found lately that I've spent the first half hour at least of most every group meeting trying to sort out the tech, until we've set the basics for that group--it's okay to take that time and a good idea to start expecting it.  
• There are a LOT of articles and suggestions out there with how to turn your increased time at home (for those it applies to) into an opportunity, such as losing weight, beginning an exercise routine, starting on that passion project you've been putting off, starting on that home improvement project you've been putting off, and others.  For some people, this is a helpful framing for how they can turn a negative into a positive.  For others, this can add some additional pressure into an already stressful situation.  We're collectively caught in a traumatic situation--this is going to hit everyone a little bit differently.  We're all going to cope a little bit differently.  And we need to be gracious toward each other in those spaces.  But, please, first be gracious to yourself.

• On that note, parts of this whole situation are going to catch up with us later.  It's okay to grieve the events we are missing.  It's okay to be upset about missing social ceremonies (commencement and any funerals, for example) and to try to figure out what it means and what we need to do about it.  This requires a level of self-awareness that not everyone is going to have.  There will be a level of creativity that will emerge and might forever shape how we approach some of these in the future.  
• Related:  for those still working at home or otherwise, I think it's really okay to not be as productive as you normally are.  I mean, try, certainly, but give yourself some slack here, too.
• Also related:  where time doesn't make much sense right now, where some folks have lower activity levels and are getting more sleep yet feel more tired, I think for a lot of people that's a trauma symptom that the body is processing.  For those working non-stop (without adequate protection and/or compensation), time similarly doesn't make sense for different reasons.    
• With those levels of grace, I want to state the following very clearly:  even though we understand that everyone is under some different, traumatic stress right now, that does not give anyone the excuse to be an asshole to customer service folks or frankly anyone still working at their place of work.  They are not there to absorb your frustration.  
• We are currently reevaluating many assumptions that we have made in our society.  I've supported a $15 minimum wage for a long time because I reject the idea that persons who work certain positions "deserve" to be poor.  I expect that our essential workers and how folks view them will reflect more strongly in our political cycle.  I also want our medical personnel to be protected and to have support and resources, starting with taking steps to prevent anything like this from happening again.  And don't get me started on how fucked up it is to combine the current failures in our healthcare system (namely the price inflations, for both pharmaceuticals and services as well as how insurance and other parties have blown these far past reason [but not past greed, evidently]) with the lack of paid sick leave:  the short version, this means people that have to work in order to afford their health insurance and any medical needs cannot miss work for sickness or lose their coverage/home/etc. along with their job, which means folks that should stay home simply cannot afford to and will continue to go to work, regardless of how sick they are or whether they're spreading something.  I don't expect this to change overnight, but we will have some places where this resonates in a different way than before.  
• We're also evaluating what is possible with the technology we have, having been forced to look at it a little differently than before.  Creativity is happening.  Solutions and new ideas are forming and being perfected, scaffolding a new normal.  
• Everyone will have their own tips for self care in this time.  It's okay if yours look a little different.  Growing some self-awareness can make this process easier, though, if you're needing a place to start, like starting your day by creating a checklist--cannot meet your needs if you haven't identified what they are.  For me, I've found that I feel best in a day if I have 1) created something (draw, cook, write, whathaveyou), 2) worked toward learning something new, 3) acknowledged my own emotions, and 4) performed some act of self-care, such as going outside, working out, and/or taking a shower.  As an example, I wrote the bulk of this on Sunday, learned a few things about turmeric today, realized I was feeling heightened after I performed a self check-in, and took a shower before allowing myself the grace to be lazy on the couch for a bit and play my new videogame.  All boxes checked.

Keep your chin up, folks.  Thank you for how you are contributing to reducing the spread of this pandemic, clinging to normalcy, and otherwise keeping on as best you can.  I hope you can be gracious to yourself and those around you.  Thinking warm thoughts in your direction today.