The Grand Experiment: Giant Reset

I don’t know about you but I am starting to get used to quarantining. I rarely go out except to the grocery store or to an essential doctor’s appointment. I wear a mask out in public. When I am walking or exercising I don’t wear a mask but I stay the prescribed six feet away from passers-by when walking outside or down the grocery aisle.

My social activity, pre-COVID-19, mainly revolved around working as a temp for the school district, attending Mass on Sunday’s and maybe going out for dinner occasionally with my husband and our friends. I miss going to Mass and seeing my friends and church family but I have been very thankful for daily Mass which is live-streamed. My sleep schedule is fairly regular but since I am not working I’ve been a little lazy and will sometimes view Mass in bed (don’t tell anyone). I know that is not the prescribed method but I have a love relationship with my phone and it is very easy to use as a device for viewing–especially after having not slept well in the night. I also cast the streaming on my TV especially for Triduum and Easter and Sunday Mass. As catholics, we have our pick as to which Mass we will watch but I have been sticking with my local parish and diocese.

Quit Complaining

At first when the self quarantining started, I complained a lot to my husband about being bound at home but he reminded me that this is just a mere inconvenience and that previous generations had it much worse. There were wars and labor camps and other plagues and the Great Depression. Now we sit on our bottoms whether we are getting our news intake by phone, TV or computer and are riveted to the latest news on the coronavirus and resultant shelter-in-place instructions. If lucky enough, one can work from home by computer and still receive a paycheck. Many are not that lucky.

My days are filled because I am working on my blogs and also intermittently looking for a job. Part of me wonders whether someone else may need the job more than me in this COVID-19 environment. Frankly, I am sick of looking for a job even when it wasn’t in this environment, probably because I don’t want just any job. It is totally so much work applying as you have to create an account for just about every place you apply. Once the economy kicks into gear I will strike while the iron is hot.

Bored in the House-In the House I’m Bored

You may have happened upon a TikTok app dance with the title “Bored in the House-In the House I’m Bored” and you may have gotten a chuckle out of it. I didn’t event know what TikTok was until last fall. I can sympathize with the dancers on the app. I don’t go to the app much but I like to keep up with the world. Even though there are no outside activities except for exercising outdoors or doing gardening since the weather is getting nicer, the day is filled and kind of has a pattern to it—except some mornings are later than others. I also try to keep the weekend normal doing the things I normally would do on the weekend, lingering a little longer drinking my morning cup of coffee while conversing with my husband and also with my son who is home from college finishing up the year. Weekends are a bit more relaxed and care-free.

The world collectively started this sheltering process in denial, then shock and now I think we are onto the anger stage as we are grieving and mourning our former way-of-life. Now, since it has been over a month with this set-up and the entire world is experiencing the same thing or had recently experienced this, there are many questions on the table that will need answering. How is the world going to get through this? All of this—the sickness and death, the economy with the loss of jobs and those in hunger. How will this affect the church?

There is always discussion about when our world will get back to normal but now the language is changing to how will we live the “new normal.” Wait a minute we did not ask for this. Our lives were going just fine and then this! It almost feels like God pressed one, giant reset button for the entire globe. Many of us are home in quarantine with the only taste of the outside world being short jaunts to the store and through screens, phone calls and walks outside. Where do we find our purpose?

What if after all this time, we develop something akin to the Stockholm syndrome and decide we don’t want to go back out again. We’re nice and comfy in our sweat pants, graying hair roots and wearing no make-up and viewing all sorts of entertainment related to quarantining on our social media. We’ve done it for this long, we can do it longer, thank you very much!

Brave New World

Will we really encounter a brave new world where computers and zoom meetings will take over the world? I can’t imagine that we could ever get rid of the human touch, the face-to-face meetings and gatherings that punctuate our lives and that give it meaning. If anything, I think we will come away from this experience a little more thankful for what we have and how important it is to be with the one’s we love and care about. It will make us realize what is truly important and essential. God has his way of getting our attention!

For me, it was God saying, “You know, you’ve been working on this blog for some time now and I really want you to step up your game. Here’s this world pandemic to help you do just that.” It’s true, I have been able to dedicate great chunks of time to working on my blog versus smaller increments where I might not do it as consistently and then forget how to accomplish some of the tasks since I am doing it all on my own with some on-line chat guidance.

There’s a New Shop in Town

I’ve also been making some simple jewelry in the hopes that we all can someday return to Mass and the Sacraments. Check out my new shop. I felt a prompting to make this jewelry and once again God gave me the time to do it. If you run into any kinks for purchasing, please contact me at the email below.

I believe we will see each other again and we will grow from this. Yes, the world and our lives might not ever be the same again—especially in the immediate future—but we know that we have the capacity to make it even better than before. All we have to do is press the reset button.