I can't decide if this is tacky or not (the silver lining remix)

[lunabee34]

I am hoping to take this time of quarantine/social distancing to make changes in my life and reinforce changes I'd already made.

I have been outside more in the last week than I have since last summer. I am really enjoying reconnecting to nature. When Fiona and I go on our nature walks, I'm being really intentional about observing the world around us, and I think it's helping me to be calm and not so anxious.

I am feeling closer (but not too close yet LOL though I'm sure that's coming) to my family and enjoying the opportunity to talk to them all more.

I am reading and writing more.

I am enjoying the challenge of figuring out how to do things in our learning management system that I didn't know how to do before and that I will be able to carry over into my teaching in the future. I am enjoying helping Josh figure out how to get his classes online and being a contact for colleagues who haven't taught online before to help them make the transition.

I am enjoying keeping my house cleaner and neater than I usually do when we are all at work and school for such a long portion of the day.

I am also feeling physically better for being at home. My fatigue has been noticeably less in this week at home than when I'm working (although the pain I've been experiencing is about the same).

I feel really anxious right now, especially due to the ambiguous nature of this situation and not knowing when or how things will progress or change, and focusing on these positives is helping me to get through. I know that my ability to do so is a reflection of my privilege; my husband and I are not losing any income during this crisis, for example, and it's so much easier to be positive in our situation.

Comments

[kore]

I've been really struck by the number of people I know who are saying that commuting less/not at all and not spending all day at the office is really cutting down on their fatigue. Some peoples' kids are also doing better out of school.

There was also an article in the NYT I think about how public schools are essentially being used as support for poor families (warmth, lunch, social programs) and daycare for working families, and that's really being exposed now that schools are being shut down. It makes me wonder if at the end of this, there will be more support for daycares attached to workplaces and Great Society type programs. I mean all of a sudden there's more support for things like the CDC! And it turns out that the FDA actually does things, it's a bad idea to "drain the swamp" by threatening to move all the employees to Kansas! There's no real way to BOOTSTRAP during a pandemic.

[lunabee34]

Oh, yeah. School provides so many services for a lot of families.

I was so happy that our school district is continuing to provide meals for kids who need them; you never know what's going to happen in a conservative state.

I hope this crisis has a number of positive outcomes from the mundane (better work from home tools) to super important (more affordable and better childcare).

[kore]

That WOULD be at least one good outcome. Higher salaries and more sick pay for nurses, health care workers and home care assistants, too. Here in WA the virus was apparently partly spread by health care workers who did multiple shifts at different nursing homes, because nobody would give them enough hours for full time work, and they were probably contracted workers so they wouldn't have had sick leave. :-/

[lunabee34]

OMG yes. Those people are not paid enough at all. It's terrible.

Nor are the people who come and do elder care in the home.

I hope those people see good outcomes from this crisis.