When Negative Is The New Positive

I think it suffices to say that it has been a wonky year. For me I would push it back a bit more to the trip to Spain which had an unfortunate moment (read about it here) followed by other learnings+incidents that have led up to me sitting on the couch before the alarm goes off, early on a Friday morning. Only a hermit entirely cut off from the world around them will know that things are less than ideal.

Since mid-March our experiences have been like nothing else we’ve ever gone through till now. A mask and gloves are as essential as clothes. Washing hands has been elevated to a THING with everyone from celebs to cartoon characters demonstrating the optimum time and best way to do it. My friend’s chubby-cheeked 2 year old learnt to wash her hands with an efficiency that surpassed that of people 10xs her age and we dealt with the dreaded C-word in our own home before long.

And I would like to say that “it has passed” but it hasn’t. The positive sign has been flipped to negative and people in isolation are out and about with hugs and kisses being given freely again. But the unknowns about this disease being what it is, one doesn’t entirely feel safe.

Either paranoia rules or people get into the mode of what Trump has shined a major spotlight on- “it is what it is“

I usually get through my tough times by making jokes, talking or writing about them (read it here). Helps to purge the system in a way but over the past few days it was as if my hands and brain decided they were at war. If one was active, the other decided to be entirely inert and passive.

The hands were itching to write but the mind refused to give up its thoughts. When the mind bubbled over, the hands seemed to be heavily weighed down and didn’t want to type out the words.

And yet we got through because of family, friends and most importantly; a wonderful support system that I saw spring up since the start of the first Covid cases in my community.

People called, sent food, sent good wishes, prayed over us, went above and beyond to look out for us and ultimately kept us going.

We in turn looked at lightening the load a bit by listening to music, eating healthy, watching stand up comedy and talking things out with people we love.

There were daily Nerf wars at home which is the only time I have been happy and comfortable with the idea of shootouts.

So while it can seem very confusing, frustrating and even depressing to not know when things will “get back to normal”, what has become evident is we cannot go back to where we were; we can only go forward. Have a plan in place for what to do if the worst case scenario comes to be, call on the Galactic Ameba about it never happening and if the universe still decides not to play ball- just ride it out the best you can. It get easier as the days go by.

We’ve had online classes, meetings, birthdays, fitness classes, doctors’ consultations and begun to view sanitisers as an extension of our own limbs.

We have learnt to bump elbows to say hello and our knuckles haven’t been used to this extent since before Man learnt to stand up straight and walk.

We have learnt to prioritise to a large extent about what is important and what we can let go of. What will necessitate stepping out the house Vs what is an indulgence that will require another 10-15 of sanitising 10 different surfaces before any kind of enjoyment can be derived out of it.

We’ve learnt that while indulgence is satisfying, it can come with a price at the end of the day. We’ve learnt to care more about the place we live in since we are responsible for the upkeep of it in a way we weren’t earlier and we have learnt to count out blessings. Anew.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not turning into a 24/7 chipper person. I still feel like getting into a Three Stooges-mode and throwing a pie in the face of a-constantly happy and positive person.

I still don’t like those forwards about happiness, maxims and goody-goody platitudes on social media every time I blink but I am genuinely grateful for that Positive that turned into a Negative and have realised that in a world that seems upside down; you can still be standing right side up.

P.S: I haven’t suddenly turned into a cat lady. But cat and especially kitten videos have really been cheering me up. Curative- mind and body both…whoda thunk!

Salut!