We’re closing in on a year since the pandemic started, and now Winter has started its long and dark descent. I’ve been in a funk, to put it lightly, for weeks now. Don’t believe me? My family can attest. In an attempt to find a silver lining, I’ve mustered together a few lessons we’re learning from this shared experience.
Prioritize Health
“If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.” That’s a direct quote from The Best Movie of All Time, a.k.a., The Princess Bride. Never mind that the character who said it was a sadistic, murderous villain. It still rings true and now more than ever. We’ve eschewed normalcy in the sweeping hopes of staying well and not contracting a deadly virus. There are obvious risks (large indoor gatherings) and small risks (grocery shopping), and we have to decide for ourselves what risks are going to be acceptable.
Learn to Live With Less
I have about four hobbies I like to spend time on and can do from the safety of my own home. Yes, there are times I will blankly watch images moving on a television set in lieu of expending any non-existent mental energy on a hobby. Pre-pandemic, our weekends might have included a trip to a children’s museum or a bouncy-house facility. We would have probably gone to a restaurant or a movie at an actual movie theater. Mid-pandemic, the kids are playing for hours at a time with each other and with toys at home. We’re ordering in and paying double digits to stream new releases. We still have a lot, but we’re learning we can live with less.
Enjoy The Great Outdoors
I can coax everyone out of the house for a nature walk or a neighborhood stroll on a good day. It’s never without at least one pair of eyes being rolled or what I call a non-verbal complaint, but it’s good to get out of our four walls occasionally. It definitely helps lift my spirits. We have explored near and far, and we’re so fortunate to have access to parks all around us.
Cooking Dinner Seven Nights a Week is Enough to Drive Anyone Bonkers
I’m just assuming here that most of you also get tired of the constant cooking and feeding, not to mention the cleaning up. Our poor kitchen is so sick of us always using it. The dishwasher averages 28 hours of rest between cycles, and I swear it’s going to tender its resignation and walk out one of these days. We are so, so thankful for restaurants and delivery services that can sub in so we don’t have whip up yet another protein-carb-veg combo that all of us will actually eat on repeat forever.
What are the lessons you’re learning these days?
