Is your loved one's neighborhood still participating in Halloween, even if in a limited capacity? Consider putting a basket of candy outside in the driveway, not necessarily right next to the door. Although this may be a "light" trick or treat year, it's a good idea to have a family member visit with your elder on Halloween during the evening hours. If you can't be there in person, a telephone check-in is a must.
“Head spinning off neck” is sometimes my response to the proverbial “how are you doing?” Although my issues may not be your challenge, you have your own, writes Joanne McInnis.
As Dorothy said in the “merry old land of OZ,” which was as different from Kansas as it could be, she was in a new world. We are in that new world too. School and Testing and Vaccines, OH MY.
It is indeed. Consider just these four big-ticket topics: COVID, Economy, School, Politics, and my head is spinning. I imagine yours is too. The heat setting on our cooktop of coping seems to be on “hard boil.”
Resiliency. The new buzz word. Every crisis has one; we've had many during COVID. The "R" word has many meanings, depending on your perspective.
Do we remember what a world not dominated by a pandemic feels like? I often find myself saying to colleagues in the healthcare field, "Remember when we thought healthcare was stressful before COVID?" And we either roll our eyes, let out a huge groan, or respond with a long pause of silence.
Our culture has brought immediate gratification to a new, perhaps unhealthy, level, but the pandemic screeched all of that to a halt, and we have no choice but to slow down. Use this time to consider who you are, what makes you tick, what you value, and how you cope. It might serve you well in the future...whatever that brings.
A question we are all thinking about, even if we are not putting it into words. Is a vaccine the COVID-19 "Holy Grail?" Will it bring safety and normalcy back to our lives? Who is working on it? How many are in trials? Is it safe? Will it give me the virus? Can everyone get vaccinated, or will it be the most vulnerable among us first? How long will it take to provide immunity? These are the questions I have, and you must have them too.
Our "normal" goal is usually to be in balance, and even then, without a pandemic or social and political unrest, it's a challenge. The whole work/family ratio, "on and off-time," and as we all have become so intimately acquainted with these past months, the blur of life's factions, blended into one. Balance. The inner and outer world.
There has been a prevailing sense of "powerlessness" these past months. We were all indoors, working from home, no school, no socialization, yet the numbers went up and up. As our communities "reopen:" remember the power we do have. Our intentional interventions are what is bringing cases and deaths down. The principles of hygiene, distancing, and masks remain crucial. By continuing to use these, we are protecting ourselves and others.
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