Here we are in the midst of change again as some states in the U.S. decide to try and reopen its business and resume life. I am still trying to get used to wearing a mask while I am out. I do not have a problem wearing it but man this thing is hot and itchy. I mostly stay home. I have gone to the grocery store and to a local farm to get supplies. NO! I have not stock piled on toilet paper. I did have to pick up more paper towels though. I do not have a ton of disinfectant wipes or cans of Lysol. I have what I normally have. I am still using the masks we bought last Fall for our outdoor work and allergies. I clean my house the same way I did before. The only difference is that now I have more time to clean and it is time to Spring clean! I will sorely miss going to buy my plants for the planters but will still work in the yard and see just how creative I can be. I am going to call some church family and friends and ask if they would like to thin out some of their Black-eyed Susans and Bee Balm. I will divide hostas for some areas and finally plant my hydrangea that I got for Valentines Day.
I do not like tuning in to see so many deaths and people without food. It really makes my heart sad. I still do not understand the depleted store shelves and panic that I witness over social media. It is bad and may get worse. Take precaution, stay still and reach out to others. Get to know your neighbors; to which you can do and still respect social distancing. We cannot police everybody. Some people you see will not wear masks or gloves and we cannot control them. We can only protect ourselves as many believe that the protective measures are out of proportion. What I do know is that I will take the precautions given and stay home as much as possible without complaining. And yes, I am unemployed like millions of others. I chose to cancel my Hulu, Netflix and magazine subscriptions but decided to keep my Apple Music and Audible for now. I even washed my own car, did my own hair and prepare foods from scratch in many cases. Leftovers are put in containers and packaged as meals that are labeled, dated and placed in the freezer. This is in an effort to stop wasting food. We were throwing out way too much food!
Do not let my contentment fool you into thinking that I do not miss some aspects of life before. I sorely miss camping and traveling and entertaining in my backyard. So everyday I make sure I sit outside and listen to and watch the birds. I go for a walk and trying to increase the distance and time so that I will be able to resume hiking when it is due time. I choose to be content. When this is over, I plan to be the best me possible to face whatever the journey that is ahead.
Two questions that I get asked almost everyday now are: What are you doing now that you are not working and why are you not making masks? To the former question I remind folks of who I am. I am a goal-setter and certain routines are my friends. They help to keep me on target and remind me why I set the goal in the first place. I took my three most urgent goals and set a morning and evening routine that would support them. The hours in between will allow me to do other things. This way I keep first things first. To the latter question of mask making, I refer the answer of the first question. It is not a part of my initial goals. To accommodate that would be to let something that is a higher priority go. There are a lot of people making masks and commoners like me can use many household things to make masks. I checked to ensure that my family and friends had masks and we ordered some if necessary. I appreciate the fact that before others would buy masks from someone else, they would check with me to see if I was selling them. If I was, I would probably give them away or charge a very nominal price to cover supplies.
When you choose to be pleasant and positive in the way you treat others, you have also chosen, in most cases, how you are going to be treated by others
Zig Ziglar
Pure & Lovely Gifts 