Coronavirus: The Gift of Time
Let me start off by saying that my head has been SO dizzy lately with all that is going on in the world— my anxiety has been high and my sleep has been not-so-great. And if you are reading this, I’m sure you’ve felt the same at some point over the last 144 days, I mean 17 (right, 17?) days of quarantine.
But, truth be told, the Coronavirus has given me an incredible gift. The gift of time. I have been at home for two weeks now, in the company of my in-laws, husband, and ever-growing 8½ month old baby boy. Where I normally work around forty-hours a week, two of my jobs have been cancelled for the time being, and my main job has been moving at normal speed but from the safety of my home.
This pandemic has, in a lot of ways, allowed me to slow down. Instead of juggling schedules — who can watch my baby, when my husband is traveling for work, what nights I need to be at my other jobs — we can just be. There is no coming and going. We order groceries and go for walks in our neighborhood, and with all the incredible free work-out offerings online right now, we can even work out from our living room, whenever we want. We’ve even been able to eat every meal together— even though there are always piles of dishes in the sink, around the sink, and in the dishwasher because all five of us are home during the day.
I don’t grieve leaving my baby boy everyday, the commute to work, or my husband traveling for work. I rejoice in seeing my baby boy learn new things every day and that I get to do it with my husband by my side. Heck, today was my husband’s birthday and we got to spend it together. If work was still going as usual, he would have been in Chicago this week. AND(!!), my son started crawling a few days ago and if not for the Coronavirus, I would have missed those first crawls.
That’s my silver lining, which I know is not the case for everyone. My heart aches for those who have lost their income completely or are furloughed and stressed about their futures. Honestly, I feel a little nervous myself— I even started screaming into my pillow when the Coronavirus-seasonal anxiety that I’ve been experiencing sets in. Whatever works, ya know?
So instead of focusing on all the unknowns of right now, shift your gaze a little. Notice the time you’ve been given. What will you do with it?
