April 1
Wednesday
Day #17
Is this all an April Fool's joke?
I have been keeping a Covid journal since March 15th, 2020, the first day Joey and I started remaining at home alone. Today I decided to share a day with you.
It hits me each morning all over again, my first waking thought. I feel like I
must be stuck in some "Groundhog Day" movie and until I figure things out, I
have to repeat it this day over and over.
If I am honest, what I said above is not quite true. My first conscious thought is always, "Thank you God for another day of life." The virus is my second waking thought.
When COVID-19 first comes to mind each morning, I can hardly believe it is actually true. Perhaps it is all some strange Facebook or media prank. This is the United States of America—you know, that country that God blessed! There should be no stores closed, no people off work, no shortage of masks, gloves and respirators, and certainly no hoarding!
Although I understand where the virus began and how it got to our country, it still does not seem quite real. I think the fact that I am on day #17 of self-isolation, just enhances the strangeness of it all, even though Joey and I have been pretty much sheltered from people for the past year we have lived here. In fact, it was just a week before this started that we had five people from church over to our house. We were finally finding "friends."
Because we have been sort of alone for a year now down here, it does not feel isolating, but I know if I were to drive past all the stores and businesses that are closed, it would feel much more lonely and scary.
I am just so thankful I am not alone. I have Joey.
We get up,
talk while having tea, eat, walk, do laundry and household chores, compute, have
devotions, entertain ourselves, and go to bed again.
He mows. I do chores. He watches youtube videos on building, gardening, wise energy, etc.. I am on my computer. And so it goes.
What a blessing I can stay home. What a blessing that Joey and I were already having church at home. What a blessing that I have this man in my life.
The neighbors have been nice enough to offer to pick up groceries for us when they order theirs. The first time I declined. We had fresh food here for more than two weeks. Yesterday I had them order and deliver some apples and bananas. Today I sent the money in a card to them. This is the "new" way to be neighborly. No hugs, no handshakes. You wave from the road, speak through a closed door, bring things in and disinfect them and go on with life.
The little things bring joy. I just watched a man walk past on our road, with three little children walking with him. It was like something out of 1950's life, a Mayberry moment if you will. We need more of that. We need more of parents interacting with children and children finding joy in the outdoors with mom or dad.
We need more Mayberry and less mayhem.
Let us stay home, stay content, and stay healthy.
Let's hold each other in our hearts until we can see each other again.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Mindset
I have decided that all of life is a mindset. Good, bad, or indifferent—it is all your mindset.
The dictionary defines mindset as "the established set of attitudes held by someone." Notice that it does not say, "beliefs" or "truths" or "realities." It says attitudes. Therefore, it is your attitude toward any one thing that determines how you will view a lot of other things.
For instance, if you happen to hate snow and you are living in the north, then your mindset, your attitude, will color everything about life there. You hate the snow, the cold, feeling trapped inside due to the weather, having to warm up cars, scrape snow, shovel snow, deal with icy roads, put on all sorts of extra gear, miserable because you have months of the same thing and cannot do anything about it, etc., ad infinitum. Before you know it, you are grumbling about a lot of other things, and the "snow" mindset has you in a total funk at least four months out of the year!
Until moving to TN last year, I spent my entire life in WI, but I learned as a child to embrace the snow and cold. It meant a break from the outside garden work which seemed never-ending, and even from all the child care of siblings, because Mom was in the house, not the garden, and could do that herself. Oh yes, there were still all those dishes for a family of seven, and I still had to help with other housework, but compared to spring, summer and fall, winter was a piece of cake!
Of course, as an adult, I could pick and choose what to do, but by then I had an ingrained love of snow and winter. Interestingly, I never got into winter sports. I simply wanted to tuck into a big chair with a blanket and a cup of tea and read while the snow fell all around outside.
Once I took up writing in a serious vein, I then looked forward to January through March, when I could spend all my time working on the next book and getting ahead on columns. I did not have green grass and lovely days calling to me. I was content at my desk, just watching the flakes fall. I was working from home by then, so did not even have the need to venture out at all unless roads were good and the day was sunny.
Yes, my mindset allowed me to embrace the winter!
I did not want to move south. I was content in Wisconsin. I had spent my whole life on the same acreage. I designed my house. I helped build it. It was on family land that Dad gave to me. I loved being close to family and friends. I loved the familiar. I had great doctors and dentist and was very content. But, when I divorced, things changed. Then when I met my new husband, things changed again. And the new husband wanted to live in the south in the mountains.
Wow! In order to do that, I knew I had to change my mindset. Not just about snow, either. I had to change it about so many things in my life, in fact, about almost everything I knew! I felt like a pioneer in a wagon heading west—I had no idea what my life would be like in this new land.
Arriving just one year ago in North Carolina, or North Cackalackly, as the residents like to call it, I could have cried. Where was the snow? Where was the crisp chilly air? Everything was a soggy, foggy, green. Bare tree branches everywhere, and seldom a pine. No real lakes like Wisconsin had, and rivers were a joke too. I cannot tell you the number around me that I can almost jump across. I was raised with the Wisconsin River, and around the Fox and Mississippi. Some of these here are literally thick sludge and nearly dried up. Joey had warned me that rivers down here were mostly green or brown, and he was right.
I dislike the laid-back slow attitude of most of the people you have to deal with. Checking out of a store takes twice as long, and not because of not enough checkouts. It is because the staff wants to chat, and they move slowly anyway. No one is in a hurry down here, unless you go to Aldi's! I was raised to walk fast, talk fast, get to the point, do your job quickly and move on. Good luck making any of that happen down here. For a year I have gritted my teeth and lived with it, but I have recently decided to change my mindset to one of "I shall endure what you do. I will not ever like it, but I will put up with it." Sort of "grin and bear it."
That is how I get through most all of the differences down here. I just grin and bear it. Just try to not let it upset me, since I cannot change it. They will call me honey, sugar, sweetheart, and even doll! They will do everything as if moving through molasses. They will never understand when I try to explain great healthcare, or why I roll my eyes when they say, "Have a 'coke' honey," while handing me a Sprite.
But the one thing I have actually changed my mindset on completely, is snow and cold. We just dropped into the 30s for a couple days and I did not like it. I had to be out in it and it was not the temperature that bothered me as much as having to put on a jacket! I had to turn on the seat warmers and the heated steering wheel in the car! (First World problems, I know.) But, what I did not have to do was warm the car, defrost anything, scrape anything, or worry about what shoes I wore because of snow or ice. There is no snow or ice. I wake up in the morning and actually like the fact that the sun is shining and the grass is green!
The other day we had dandelions in the yard. My bushes are all green. The ornamental pear trees in front have tiny buds. It is currently 46 and tomorrow will be 53.
I have a hard time realizing it is January after 71 Januarys that were snowy and cold. Going outside here, it feels like it is at least April, if not May. I recall last year thinking, "It has felt like summer for months. When does real summer come?"
And then summer came, along about June, and it was like it never ended. So, it was like we had summer for nine months of the year, because you do down here.
Anyway, my mindset about snow has changed. I realize now that I never cared that much for snow. I just wanted to watch it fall and see that blanket of white. I have that down here, but only about once a month from November to March, and then although gorgeous, it melts in 24-48 hours, and you know what? That is more than fine with me!
Now I just have to change my mindset so I can embrace summer, even if that means I am trapped inside during the worst of it, just like being trapped inside during the worst of winter.
What mindset do you need to change?
The dictionary defines mindset as "the established set of attitudes held by someone." Notice that it does not say, "beliefs" or "truths" or "realities." It says attitudes. Therefore, it is your attitude toward any one thing that determines how you will view a lot of other things.
For instance, if you happen to hate snow and you are living in the north, then your mindset, your attitude, will color everything about life there. You hate the snow, the cold, feeling trapped inside due to the weather, having to warm up cars, scrape snow, shovel snow, deal with icy roads, put on all sorts of extra gear, miserable because you have months of the same thing and cannot do anything about it, etc., ad infinitum. Before you know it, you are grumbling about a lot of other things, and the "snow" mindset has you in a total funk at least four months out of the year!
Until moving to TN last year, I spent my entire life in WI, but I learned as a child to embrace the snow and cold. It meant a break from the outside garden work which seemed never-ending, and even from all the child care of siblings, because Mom was in the house, not the garden, and could do that herself. Oh yes, there were still all those dishes for a family of seven, and I still had to help with other housework, but compared to spring, summer and fall, winter was a piece of cake!
Of course, as an adult, I could pick and choose what to do, but by then I had an ingrained love of snow and winter. Interestingly, I never got into winter sports. I simply wanted to tuck into a big chair with a blanket and a cup of tea and read while the snow fell all around outside.
Once I took up writing in a serious vein, I then looked forward to January through March, when I could spend all my time working on the next book and getting ahead on columns. I did not have green grass and lovely days calling to me. I was content at my desk, just watching the flakes fall. I was working from home by then, so did not even have the need to venture out at all unless roads were good and the day was sunny.
Yes, my mindset allowed me to embrace the winter!
I did not want to move south. I was content in Wisconsin. I had spent my whole life on the same acreage. I designed my house. I helped build it. It was on family land that Dad gave to me. I loved being close to family and friends. I loved the familiar. I had great doctors and dentist and was very content. But, when I divorced, things changed. Then when I met my new husband, things changed again. And the new husband wanted to live in the south in the mountains.
Wow! In order to do that, I knew I had to change my mindset. Not just about snow, either. I had to change it about so many things in my life, in fact, about almost everything I knew! I felt like a pioneer in a wagon heading west—I had no idea what my life would be like in this new land.
Arriving just one year ago in North Carolina, or North Cackalackly, as the residents like to call it, I could have cried. Where was the snow? Where was the crisp chilly air? Everything was a soggy, foggy, green. Bare tree branches everywhere, and seldom a pine. No real lakes like Wisconsin had, and rivers were a joke too. I cannot tell you the number around me that I can almost jump across. I was raised with the Wisconsin River, and around the Fox and Mississippi. Some of these here are literally thick sludge and nearly dried up. Joey had warned me that rivers down here were mostly green or brown, and he was right.
I dislike the laid-back slow attitude of most of the people you have to deal with. Checking out of a store takes twice as long, and not because of not enough checkouts. It is because the staff wants to chat, and they move slowly anyway. No one is in a hurry down here, unless you go to Aldi's! I was raised to walk fast, talk fast, get to the point, do your job quickly and move on. Good luck making any of that happen down here. For a year I have gritted my teeth and lived with it, but I have recently decided to change my mindset to one of "I shall endure what you do. I will not ever like it, but I will put up with it." Sort of "grin and bear it."
That is how I get through most all of the differences down here. I just grin and bear it. Just try to not let it upset me, since I cannot change it. They will call me honey, sugar, sweetheart, and even doll! They will do everything as if moving through molasses. They will never understand when I try to explain great healthcare, or why I roll my eyes when they say, "Have a 'coke' honey," while handing me a Sprite.
But the one thing I have actually changed my mindset on completely, is snow and cold. We just dropped into the 30s for a couple days and I did not like it. I had to be out in it and it was not the temperature that bothered me as much as having to put on a jacket! I had to turn on the seat warmers and the heated steering wheel in the car! (First World problems, I know.) But, what I did not have to do was warm the car, defrost anything, scrape anything, or worry about what shoes I wore because of snow or ice. There is no snow or ice. I wake up in the morning and actually like the fact that the sun is shining and the grass is green!
The other day we had dandelions in the yard. My bushes are all green. The ornamental pear trees in front have tiny buds. It is currently 46 and tomorrow will be 53.
I have a hard time realizing it is January after 71 Januarys that were snowy and cold. Going outside here, it feels like it is at least April, if not May. I recall last year thinking, "It has felt like summer for months. When does real summer come?"
And then summer came, along about June, and it was like it never ended. So, it was like we had summer for nine months of the year, because you do down here.
Anyway, my mindset about snow has changed. I realize now that I never cared that much for snow. I just wanted to watch it fall and see that blanket of white. I have that down here, but only about once a month from November to March, and then although gorgeous, it melts in 24-48 hours, and you know what? That is more than fine with me!
Now I just have to change my mindset so I can embrace summer, even if that means I am trapped inside during the worst of it, just like being trapped inside during the worst of winter.
What mindset do you need to change?
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