This is Day 2 of the Stay at Home order in Minnesota. And I’m doing OK. Actually, I’m doing pretty good! And here’s why:
I like clearly defined rules.
For the past two weeks we’ve been encouraged to stay home and practice social distancing. But it was up to us how we behaved. The guidelines were amorphous, gaseous, unstructured. While I heard over and over that the guidelines were helping to stop the spread of the virus, I felt anxious and guilty and quite uncertain if what I was doing was right.
Should I leave my apartment and run to grab that Filet-o-Fish from McD’s? Was it safe to do so? Would I put others in peril if I did? Would I be in peril?
Was it OK if I only stood 3 feet away from a good friend I ran into on the street and have a chat? Did checking the wind direction and making sure it blew between us so our breath was blown away from one another while we talked make it OK? Was my friend a carrier?
How guilty do I feel about not going to visit my parents and grandmother? Should I go and stand outside my grandmother’s window and wave at her? How close can I get to my mother when we exchange groceries in person? Am I putting them in danger if I only stand 3 feet away in the outdoors? (See above again for how paranoid I was getting…)
And then the order came to stay at home. And my outlook changed. I now had absolute permission to not leave my apartment for two weeks. It’s OK to stay home and hibernate. It’s totally OK to not get on the elevator with that person and wait for the “next one”. It’s ok to not go out and talk to people if I do not want to. It’s OK to work from home because it makes us all safe to do so. I know what the rules are now and for the first time in weeks my anxiety has calmed.
And I slept like a log last night. IT WAS AWESOME.
Here’s a quick update for those of you in my hometown area. There is a really interesting artist who is up on the Artery. I took a quick pic when I was taking on my walk on Friday. I encourage you to check out the displays in front of the Gallery Flats. (I sure hope his works survived the downpour yesterday!)
In other news…I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m keeping a personal diary of what has been going on with me, my family, friends, colleagues as we go through this experience together. I plan to donate it to my local historical society, and maybe my state historical society as well, once this is over. I encourage you to do the same. There is no greater gift to future generations than first hand accounts of lives lived in times of change and hardship. And I’ve heard from those who are doing this that it adds a sense of purpose to their daily lives in a time when it seems we’ve got no control over anything.
Stay safe everyone!
I Was Born an Only Child 