Like so many of you, my pre-Covid_19 life was hectic. The regimen was predictable – to rise at six in the morning and retire at eleven p.m. This repeats five days a week. It does not mean I rest on weekends. There’s so much work for so little a time.
Although I like what I do, I was so overwhelmed with the volume of work that my nerves were stiffening and my blood pressure was shooting up. I was feeling so stressed out that I wanted to take a week of medical leave. Well, I did not have to because Covid_19 pandemic came.
Thinking the pandemic will last for just a few days or may be a week, I was thankful that I will have enough time to recuperate. I did not have any idea that this deadly Covid_19 will force me to social distance or shelter-in-place for weeks on end. As days and weeks pass by, my feeling of gratitude for this unexpected ‘time of rest’ turned into fear of the uncertain future.
I was afraid of getting infected with the virus. I was afraid of my family’s catching it. I was afraid of losing someone to it. I was afraid for those who contracted it. And I was devastated watching patients in the hospitals being put under ventilators and not surviving. Fear ruled my life for eight weeks.
Then I realized that my fears will eat me up faster than the Coronavirus. I had to change my attitude and do something to bring peace to my fragile, anxious soul.
To make this change happen, I had to envision a place where I could be at peace. My brain brought me to that small town I grew up in – a small, quiet place to be. It’s home. It had an old church, some few stores, many vegetable gardens, kind neighbors, and caring families. Remembering my childhood home helped me get organized and do the following:
- attend religious service online every morning
- cut grass and do gardening in the backyard
- appreciate the sunrise and sunset
- watch African bees fly over blades of grass
- harvest peach fruits
- separate biodegradable from the non-biodegradable materials
- read and write
- learn composting
- pray for the dead but more for the living
I did and will continue doing the above activities without any company. I discovered this inner peace just watching bees and butterflies in my backyard, cutting grass and harvesting some peach fruits, reading The Confessions of Saint Augustine, or watching my kitchen glow as the sun rays penetrate through the windows. Most of all, by ending my day in prayer to thank the Almighty for the life He has given me today, I feel peace and joy.
How about you? How are you coping with this pandemic?
This Borrowed Scrap of Time 