THE WORLD IS FALLING APART, BUT I WILL NOT.

Goodness knows, in this unprecedented pandemic, we must find ways to stay sane and optimistic. As of last night at midnight, the shelter-in-place order was given, and rather than give in to yet another reason to panic, I’m done with that. I imagine many other people have been balancing that fine line of panic versus calm as well.

Today, I’m changing my perspective. If I am going to be locked up in my house for three weeks with my family, my cats, and my new baby chicks, I’m going to make the best of it.

I’m an introvert. Being locked up in the house would normally be like a dream come true. In a typical week, that would mean for large parts of the day, the daughter and husband are gone. School and work would provide the alone time I needed to settle my brain for the social interaction life requires. A lockdown removes that possibility. This reality probably incited more panic for me than the whole coronavirus craziness.

I can deal. I will deal. I have no choice but to deal. I’m not a planner, but I have found that for me, having a loose plan does help in some situations. I determined this is one of them.

THE PLAN… in no particular order.

~Well, write, of course! That is my favorite thing to do. I have a series to work on. Book Four is well under way, and it tops my list of things to finish in the three weeks of time that have been handed to me on a platter. Let’s be clear… I’d rather have a better reason for gaining the time, but optimism says we are looking for the good here. Time to write? Awesome.

~Hobbies I normally don’t have the brain energy for, like cooking. Today, the daughter has been tasked with dinner and she has chosen to make spaghetti. Sweet, I love pasta! And, there’s a pack of burger in the fridge and well, I have all day long with nothing but time. Hence… meatballs. Tomorrow, maybe it will be cookies, or a jelly roll, or possibly even the husband’s favorite; cheesecake.

~Daily tasks. The day job I am barred from because of this requires a lot of tidying up after people (retail). So, my time at home has not always been spent making sure everything is magazine photo-shoot ready. I have other priorities, and quite frankly, I get sick of cleaning up after people.

Thinks like relaxing in the easy chair watching mindless television, or writing are preferable. Anything but cleaning. A quick surface clean is something I have deliberately made myself okay with over the years. Dust bunnies under the buffet? Oh well. Laundry to be done? I have plenty more to wear in my closet. Clean dishes in the dishwasher? So what. Table not cleared off? We don’t eat at it anyway.

Three weeks at home gives me a chance to care about doing some extra cleaning. I could come up with a list of things I’ve been putting off. Like, setting aside things to donate or throw away.

~Becoming more sustainable. As a family. I write apocalyptic books, so the thought has crossed my mind more than once. I have a lot of Prepper friends. I read their posts and think perhaps they have it right and I should dip my toe in. And wouldn’t you know it, a global pandemic arrives to give us all a hard shove into questioning whether any of us have done enough to protect our families in the face of a crumbling world?

So I bought some seeds and planted them in starter kits. I looked at other things we could do and we have already implemented some of those ideas. Every step is a positive step. One that not only helps to gain back some feeling of control, but one that is good for the environment, no matter what happens.

~Family time. I’ll be the first one to admit a lot of the time I’m too emotionally and physically drained to connect at home. Home is often the place we feel the safest being ourselves, and allowing ourselves to disconnect. So the daughter spends time alone in her room and the husband and I are doing our separate things.

Suddenly though, we are all home at the same time when we eat, so we are using the table. Before, we all ate at different times because of our schedules. We can sit together and have a music session. The daughter on the piano, the husband with his guitar, and me singing along. With church off the table, God has provided us with personal worship time.

~Relationship with God. For me, this trial has made me remember how much we need God. I have heard others express they believe all of this is another reason to be angry at God. I have asked people this question dozens of times since this all began: isn’t right now the most important time to have faith in a God who is our only hope? Does one dare to choose wrong and find themselves in hell for an eternity? If there is even one tiny chance that God does love you and this is nothing more than the choices of man fulfilling a prophecy, why would you still choose to not believe? Let it be fear that leads you to Him. Let pride go. Let anger go. If God is the only peace there is right now, please accept it!

I realize truth might be hard for someone who does not already believe to grasp, but God is not the cause of evil. Satan is. The choices of man are. He gave us free will to choose. And he gave us a way out. Salvation. I am not afraid of death. Heaven waits for me. If you fear death, ask yourself why? Is it because you do not know where you are going? It hurts my heart when someone rejects God, because it means they have nothing to stand on. No faith, no promise, no peace, and no eternal life. How many people have I come into contact with since COVID-19 has become our daily lives that I will not see in heaven? Who have rejected the words of hope I have tried to give them? When all is said and done, it’s all that is left. Hope in a God who saves.

~Relationship with each other. Face-to-face is off the table for awhile. That doesn’t mean this part of our lives has to suffer. There’s the telephone, FaceTime, Marco Polo, text, Facebook, Instagram. Ways we can still connect through technology. Remember all those friends you love in your life. You now have time to reach out to all of them.

For me personally, when I am working, I don’t have the time or the energy to let them all know I am thinking about them. I had to narrow the field considerably to a select few to pour into. Proximity was the number one factor. Who can I deepen a relationship with simply because they are around me more than others? It isn’t how everyone operates, but for me, proximity is a big deal. Social interaction puts a face front and center in my mind. It forces me to get to know a person on a deeper level. With that off the table, I can divide my time and stay in contact with each of the people who are in my typical rotation, and I can check in with those who are in the outer circle, but still loved.

LIFE GOES ON.

Eventually, we will all go back to work. Pay bills. Send our kids back to school. Go back to church. Hug each other again.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS?

~The world can literally change overnight.

~Not to take things for granted, even if it’s as simple as toilet paper.

~Time is precious. And, tomorrow could be our last day on this earth. If this has taught us anything, it should be that.

Stay safe, my friends. Do not panic. Pray. Love each other.