HOW TO SURVIVE THE PANDEMIC

I imagine we are all biting our nails down to nubbins, as I did when a child and my parents put vile tasting nail solution on them to keep me from bringing blood. Huh. This is not a very cheerful way to begin a post about a pandemic, but then, nothing is very cheerful about it except for the amazing courage of frontline health workers, grocery store stockers and cashiers, EMT folks, hospital nurses and doctors, gas station workers, and so many more. As Fred Rogers’ Mom said, “When something bad happens, look to the helpers.” And there are so many of those!

But what I would like to do here is offer some concrete suggestions for us adults (or mostly adults) and for parents of kids who are looking for ways to keep their families occupied. I might even throw in my recipe for Spicy Moroccan Red Lentil Soup, but make sure you only have it one night and not two nights in a row. Enough said.

How do I survive these anxious, dire times at the same time I am recovering from total knee replacement surgery and still dealing with an Autonomic Nervous System disorder? Here are the things and actions I do to keep from going crazy, and we must remember that our mental health is a bit compromised over the last damn 3 years because of orange mango.

1/ Create rituals for yourself to contain the hours.

     Every morning I stump downstairs with my cane, let the saucy Jack Russell out (can you imagine living through these times without a pet?), let her in, feed her, boil up water for tea, and heat my banana date-nut muffins in the microwave.

 My tea is seriously strong, with 2 Earl Grey Bergamot tea bags in it, some milk, and 1 sugar. I watch the birds through the kitchen window and greet them happily. Life is going on, despite my worries.

    Then I do 20 laps with my cane around the first floor to get the blood flowing and my knee flexible. I sit on couch, take out my “Daily Readings” and read the Scripture passages for the day–several Psalms, an Old Testament Reading, a Gospel passage, and a reflection afterwards. This is a good time to pray, looking out the window at the birds and praying for everyone I know who is either ill or in harm’s way. It makes me feel I am taking some kind of action, even though I am just sitting on my couch. Then I write in my Gratitude Journal, 

marking down a verse from Scripture, things I am grateful for, things I need help with, and people I am praying for.

2/ Then exercise upstairs to a DVD, fondly called “Peppy-Peppy” by one of my sons. I just re-started this and am only doing 10 min. to begin with, but am looking towards getting back to a half-hour. This makes my heart and soul feel good, and if I sing off tune, who can hear me?

3/ I have to do PT and elevate my leg with ice on it, but that is just routine. The next good part of my day is going outdoors in the sunshine and getting in some steps on the deck. I may well pray the Jesus prayer as I go, as it calms my mind. I have a tendency to fret when walking, which does no one any good at all. But thinking of cooking while I walk is always a good thing to do.

4/ I have downloaded the Calm App on my phone and use that to meditate and calm my fears. These meditation apps really do help us through these challenging times. Another resource for dealing with fears is the amazing book by Jan Frazier, “When Fear Falls Away.”

5/ Then, of course, I cook. Today could be keto brownies. Anyone want the recipe?

 No gluten, but butter, eggs, lots of dark chocolate, and erithrytol in place of sugar. Yummacious. 107 calories per brownie.

 Again, cooking encourages me to feel healthy, as if I have an ongoing life, even though I am not going out of the house or driving yet. Rick has been grocery shopping, but we are now going to delivery services for food, produce, and meat.

6/ Staying in touch: Rick and I are doing a Zoom time each weekend to connect with Ben and Amy on Long Island.  I love hearing their voices, seeing their dog and their apartment, and knowing that they are alright. We mostly use phone contact with our second son these days, and I miss seeing him as he is only 15 min. away, although he and this housemate came up to do garden work a few days ago. It was marvelous to see them and chat a bit, with us on the deck and them in the driveway.

7/ Loading up my kindle. I am in an Anne Perry phase, now on book 18 in the series, and luckily, there are 6 more. 

Total escape. Sometimes a little gruesome, but not too much. You can use Libby app if you prefer, but I find it a tad cumbersome and not user-friendly. But it is free.

8/ Taking out old craft projects which I had given up on but didn’t have the heart to throw away. I found an Old Deerfield embroidery sampler which I am beginning anew, as soon as I can figure out how to get the damn yarn through the tiny hole. And I have this nifty magnifier thing with a light, which helps.

9/ Re-watching Call the Midwife episodes and cuddling up with my honey on the couch. I love how brave the people are in the episodes, how much they care for their patients, and how profound the meaning is. It heartens me at the same time that I tend to sob and drool.

10/ Watch Metropera.org, whichwas live-streaming at 7:30 p.m.

11/ Check out free recipes from https://nyti.ms/2UdVMHb.
12/ Wordonfire.org has daily Mass on their site for those of us who want to keep our faith life lively.

13/ Fr. James Martin at Americamagazine.org has daily faith sharing videos at 3:00 every day, and they are wonderful.

14/ Thriveglobal.com helps us maintain our emotional resilience during this hard time.

15/ Openculture.com has free online courses, audio, ebooks, movies, and coloring books. (Thanks to my friend Fleet Hill who posted this on FaceBook.)

If You Have Kids At Home:
1/ Check out YouTube videos of Heidi Stemple (writer and bird-watcher) reading some of her picture books aloud, setting up activities for your kids, and getting them interested in bird-watching. Our local writer Corinne Demas Bliss also has free read aloud videos of her picture books about pirates, written with her daughter Artemis Bliss. Scholastic has many resources, activities, and read aloud books to look at.

2/ Have your kids start watching birds outside or through the windows, keeping a log of what they see. You can get CDs of bird songs from Amazon to help them identify various species, also many books on birds. Learning something new during a time of stress is a useful and calming thing to do.

3/ Have indoor races: draw one chalk line for start on a kitchen floor or wooden floor, then another line further down. Have your kids do crab walk races, twirling races, hopping races, and one-legged races from line to line. Have goldfish crackers to reward them with.

4/ For younger ones: Back in the day I would make a circle on the rug with a bathrobe sash, tie a rope on a wand for me as zoo keeper, and have them sit in the middle of the circle. I gently waved the wand and said, “Be a lion! Roar!” And they would do that. “Be a baboon!” And they would do that. Great way to work off steam on indoor days. They can pick the animals they want to do.

5/ Check out children’s book illustrators online and on YouTube. Many are putting up lessons where kids can draw various things and learn about how to shade, line draw, and more.

6/ Circle Song: A child therapist I know, Alice Barber (author of “Blue Butterfly Open”) has a great suggestion for younger kids: remember in Nursery School how we gathered in a circle, sang a song, and shared our stuffed animals and one thing from our lives? This ritual helps ground a young child in their day, cluing them in to the date and having them go to the window to tell us what the weather is.

7/When you are at your wits’ end, have them make blanket houses, pop some popcorn, give them picture books or chapter books for older ones, a flashlight, and let them cuddle in the “house.” This time is stressful for kids too, so anything that calms them is good. Or, as Dan Rather recently tweeted, many folks are telling me their kids are crawling into their beds at night. Let them. Hold them tight.

I am reminded of the London Blitz and how people crowded into the tube stations to shelter during bombing raids; how people put on tin hats and looked out for bombers; how folks had each others’ backs during this dangerous, dire time. You may know that the rates of depression actually went DOWN then, as folks knew they were doing something useful for others. I hope this will help us now, sheltering in place, trying to keep busy, working on mental balance and exercise.

As Janis Ian said on FB recently, It’s a good thing to get into your jeans occasionally and out of sweats to see if the jeans still fit. Then, if you are down in the dumps–which will happen during this hard time–, make brownies, sing “Here I Am Lord” with the Scot’s Boy’s Choir (on YouTube), pray, and know that we will get through this. Different, yes, tatty, yes, but still here, though our world will never be the same again. Keep Calm and Carry On, my peeps!

Annie Turner is an author who lives in Williamsburg. Her places of worship include Haydenville Congregational Church. Her blog is “Faith Is My Operating System”  and it can be found at  https://faithismyos.blogspot.com