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A gift to be simple…
For as long as I can remember, people have been paying lip service to the joys of simplicity. Even before Marie Kondo taught us how to tidy up, Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance, a Daybook of Comfort and Joy extolled the simple pleasures of coffee in the morning, using the good china for meals other than holidays, and waking up after a good night’s sleep. Now, in the wake of a pandemic and 30 million unemployed Americans, those efforts seem so… quaint. Like, “awww, isn’t it cute how we had to be told to appreciate fresh air. That was before we were cooped up inside all the time!” Two days…
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The trauma of losing our normal
From the looks of my social media feeds, it appears that the world is in some kind of collective grief right now, specifically the first stage: denial. There is so much talk of “getting back to normal.” People are comfort-eating away the quarantine, just waiting for normal life to resume. I don’t think we’ve fully grasped yet that there is no getting back to normal. Normal doesn’t exist anymore. Having spent the past decade in various stages of trauma, and different stages of moving through it, I feel like I’m watching all my friends pass through this place. And for once, I’m kind of a step ahead. I think anyone…
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Adaptable Humans
One thing I am amazed about with this state of lockdown is just how quickly it’s all felt normal. Scientists say that humans might be the most adaptable species on earth, and I’m seeing that play out in real time through this pandemic. “Our brains are essentially social brains,” he added. “We share information, we create and pass on knowledge. That’s the means by which humans are able to adjust to new situations, and it’s what differentiates humans from our earlier ancestors, and our earlier ancestors from primates.” – Rick Potts, director of the Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History The first three weeks…
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Hibernation
What do you think historians and sociologists will say about this time, this period in our collective lives when they look back on it in 50 or 100 years? Will they look at all the good people are doing, donating masks, 3D printing protective gear, taking food to the vulnerable people? Will they look at the rallies people have against social distancing measures, and try to break down why America more than other countries is experiencing this pushback on public health? Or will they wonder what life was like for regular people cooped up in their homes for a month or more? I have gone into hibernation, and I’m trying…
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Spanish Lockdown: I go out!
Unimaginably bizarre. That’s how I’d describe the grocery store experience I had today. I was prepared for madness. I was prepared for crowds. I was prepared for empty shelves. What I got instead was silence, wariness, and everyone in gloves. Spanish people are huggers, and kissers, and generally very touchy people. They don’t do personal space very well. They’re also extremely loud. Go into any cafe at lunchtime, and you have to scream to be heard. So when I entered the Lidl here and was met with silence, it was freaky. I saw someone I knew, and instead of the customary greeting of kisses and hugs, we just smiled a…
