Basic Routine Brings Order During Quarantine

I find that having a basic routine helps to shape my day. The routine, however simple it may be, has brought a  modicum of  stability and control to my life during this open-ended COVID-19 Pandemic.

MORNING ROUTINE: 

1. Wake 6:30 a.m. I set an alarm each night so I don't sleep too late. When I sleep too late, I languish and can spend hours in bed, reading the LA Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post,  CNN alerts, Twitter and LinkedIn.  The more news I read, the more my addiction to news takes over. The more my addiction takes over, the more my anxiety level increases.  It's a vicious cycle!

2. Get out of bed.

3. Go to kitchen. Turn on the coffee. 

4. Feed the cats while the coffee drips through.  Yes, we still drink drip coffee. No pods in this household. I love the smell of fresh coffee!

5. Open the shades to greet the day.

6. Select a coffee mug. I have a large assortment. The ritual of choosing my coffee mug makes me happy because each one reminds me of some place I've been or  of the person who gave it to me.

7. Pour coffee.

8. Journal.  My daily practice is to write something every day.  These days, I begin every entry with the date,  followed by Pandemic  day # sheltering in place.

9. Write for 20 minutes.

10. Read NY Times morning briefing. 

11.  Gentle Yoga. Three times a week.

12. Shower. 

13. Personal Care: This may include washing my hair, blow drying my hair, plucking my eyebrows if needed and applying face cream and sunblock. I do this most days so I don't descend into feeling like a slug.

14. Make the bed. This helps me start and end each day with some order.

15. Eat breakfast. Yogurt with granola.

16. Go to work.  This means remote teaching while school is in session, Zoom rehearsals or finding a personal creative outlet like writing, watching a webinar, reading or improving my technical skills.

17. Eat lunch.

18. Go back to work.  (See # 16) 

19.  Take a walk. Wear mask.


EVENING ROUTINE:

20. Prep dinner. In my household, cooking for four people has been a blessing. I love to cook so meal preparation brings me joy. I've experimented with a lot of new recipes and have fixed more versions of chili than I care to admit.

21. Glass of wine. Yes. This has become a routine. We have separated our wine into weekday and weekend selections to reserve the good stuff for weekends only. It's a thing now.

22. Eat dinner together. This has become a nightly ritual. We come from our various corners, out from behind our doors, computer screens and devices to have real "face time."

23. Play Mexican Train dominoes. This game has become a favorite. It's great because you can pick it back up in subsequent rounds.

24. Clean and sanitize kitchen. 

25. Get ready for bed. 

26. Sit in my chair. This may seem silly but I love my chair. It makes me happy.

27. Watch Netflix, Amazon or something on television. I've now finished Ozark and UnOrthodox.  We are currently watching Season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Season 2 of Mozart in the Jungle and SGN when there's a new episode.

28.  Watch Chris Cuomo on CNN.  Need to check in on him each night to see how he's doing.

29.  Switch to Frasier. 

30.  Go to sleep by 11:00

Other Rules:
Do not compare myself with others.
Stay in touch with friends and family.
Pray.
Do not judge my productivity level.
Be kind.
Walk away when the tension gets too much.
Be grateful.
Look for the positives.
Embrace technology don't resist it.
Maintain Beginner's mind.

Thoughts on Passover, Easter, Postponements and a Pandemic

It is Passover. It is Holy Week.   We are quarantined in our homes. Life as we knew it has come to a screeching halt. Everything has changed and no one can reliably predict the future. We have come to a collective pause in our daily lives. There is fear, uncertainty, anxiety, grief, disappointment, disbelief. What we first described as surreal has shifted to a new reality. There is suffering. There is loss.  There is tension. We are stuck.  Sheltered in houses, apartments, rooms, ships, hotels, camps.  We are with family, friends, neighbors, strangers. Or we are alone.  We are changing our behavior. Socially distanced we are FaceTiming and Zooming. Between virtual happy hours we are sanitizing, washing, wiping, scrubbing, singing the alphabet. We are wearing masks and gloves. Our cars sit idol. Our bills are piling up.  We are unsure how the mortgage or the rent will be paid. We are furloughed, laid off, unemployed. We watch CNN, the Cuomo brothers, Netflix. We order groceries online that are dropped at our door by complete strangers - shoppers who text us from the store with reports of empty shelves and no toilet paper. Instacart. Ship't. Amazon. We try to contain our panic. We wipe down our plastic containers and cans. Reusable grocery bags sit unused in our trunks. We mix our Clorox water and spray it on our kitchen counters allowing it to sit for ten minutes to kill the virus. A new way of counting...dwell time.  We are baking bread and creating menus with what we have in the pantry or freezer.
We read the New York Times, The Washington Post, The LA Times and watch the numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths climb - hoping that we will see a graph that tells us that we are "flattening the curve" - a phrase that entered our vernacular only weeks ago. We bang pots and pans out windows to celebrate the brave warriors on the front line of this pandemic - doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, delivery people. Schools are closed. Teachers are scrambling to instantly convert to online learning platforms. Technology is providing connection and consternation.
High school musicals, sports seasons and the olympics are postponed or canceled. Weddings, funerals, and graduations are on hold.  Broadway is dark. Restaurants and bars are closed.  Parks, paths, beaches  are shut down and guarded. The class of 2020 is watching their senior year evaporate.

It's Passover.

I think about the Frank family. The annex. Anne. Her diary.  Living day in and day out  shut away from the world hoping that things would eventually get back to normal...dependent on the courage and kindness of Miep and others who risked their lives to protect them.

I think about the Warsaw Ghetto, Dachau, Bergen- Belsen, Auschwitz and Terezin where art, music and the human spirit thrived in the midst of  unimaginable horror. I listen to the story of Exodus from the Old Testament. The seven plagues. The poignancy of the re-telling in the midst of a modern plague reminds me that throughout history there has always been suffering, sacrifice and hope for deliverance.

It is Holy week. The holiest season in the liturgical calendar for Catholics. I am reminded that the story does not end in the tomb. There is hope for resurrection, transformation and "new" life.
The ancient rituals and festivals of spring contain the same message of renewal.

 This pandemic will pass.

How this will shape us is left to be seen.  My mother's father died in the 1918 flu. She grew up during the depression, lived through WWII and nursed her son during the AIDS epidemic. She hoarded canned goods, kept her gas tank full and hammered into my head to always take a sweater.  Through her dementia at ninety, she still asked me, "do you need anything?"

Tragedy and suffering need not crush us but as the saying goes, "it's not what happens to you it's how you respond to what happens to you that matters."

Anne hoped for freedom and liberation. I would argue that she had it in the annex despite her circumstances  because she created it. Her diary contains no passages of self-pity for what she was missing out on.
Teenagers today could draw great strength from re-reading The Diary of Anne Frank.

Look to the ancestors. Remember the stories. Draw strength from their fortitude.

 How will this shape us?  Let me rephrase.

Decide to shape this into a story from which our great, great, great grandchildren will draw strength.

It is our turn.

Next year in Jerusalem.

Hope.