#Microblog Monday 357: Pandemic Insights
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My Sweet Dumb Brain suggests that we need to have a pandemic postmortem. While that phrase feels a little too on-the-nose for an event that is continuing to kill millions of people, the impulse behind it is sound. What did we learn from this experience? What do we wish we had done better? What would we do exactly the same?
That is the piece that may be missing for me as we move back into the outside world: that discussion of what we learned. I did this in my bullet journal months ago. They were all practical things, such as lemons keep forever and can be used in so many dishes. Always have a lot of lemons on hand in case we have to go back into lockdown.
But there are the emotional lessons learned. We need structure in our day, and if it’s not there through obligations, we need to create it. We need very little to be happy. Beorn makes everything better.
But I think I need something bigger; pausing with family and friends to talk through the last 16 months.
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11 comments
I had lemons in the refrigerator for 2 weeks and they started getting a little black on the outside. Maybe I should leave them out.
My pandemic post-mortem is pretty simple: I should get out more, if a nationwide stay-at-home suggestion doesn’t significantly impact my life. (Seriously, I had very few issues, which means I am extremely fortunate and also highly sheltered.)
What I learned: we can’t trust the fed, state, or local govt to protect us from a deadly pandemic. Dispatched from my office where I am wearing an N95 as others walk about maskless, and where the public is free to enter our building maskless no questions asked bc doing so is “self-attesting” you are vaxxed. Meanwhile delta gains steam and vaccines aren’t 100% effective even against old variants…
I wouldn’t say that I personally learned anything from the pandemic, but it did confirm a few things that I already knew about myself. For example, I am an extrovert who needs regular interaction with other people, and not just the three people who share my household.
What worked well for me was maintaining healthy habits. While my emotions ebbed and flowed, esp. as the lockdown dragged into months instead of weeks, I felt better overall when I was sleeping at least 8 hours a night, eating healthfully 85-90% of the time, exercising almost daily, and mediating. I read A TON (I usually average 50-60 books a year and read 97 books in 2020.)
In terms of what could’ve been better, I should’ve arranged a better home office set-up from the outset. Even today, after 16 months of working remotely, I am working on a rolling desk with a laptop (as compared to my “real” office set-up with two large monitors, external keyboard and mouse, and footrest).
If we have to go through this again, I will ensure that I make healthy habits a priority again and probably figure out some way to see people in person (even if it’s masked and from a distance).
I did a post on this very topic just last week: Lessons from the Pandemic. I learned a lot–and way more than I could put in the post. Here’s the link if you’re interested: https://iamchandralynn.com/2021/06/23/lessons-from-the-pandemic/
I’m reading this and the comments with interest, because I like to know what others learned on an individual/family basis, rather than the wider societal/political basis, where some countries have learned lessons and continue to learn, and others still have their heads in the sand. Sadly, my main lesson has been that people can’t be trusted to act in the common good. Though we gave it a decent go here in NZ.
I’m with Mali, I learned the sad fact that people don’t care enough about others, but at the same time I saw what good people did do for others in need. I learned that I am a gregarious introvert. My lemons don’t last forever, but maybe our forevers are different… I learned it takes very little to keep me entertained and happy. But I also learned how important work life balance is and how easy it is to get out of whack. I also find it super weird how it’s like, “it’s all over!” all of a sudden, and yet it’s not. So unsettling.
I agree. Because the way things are going, this isn’t just ending, full stop. It has already mentally ended for some. I feel like it may never end for some others who will really struggle to readjust, or who continue to mourn. And I want to believe it will end for me when my kids are able to be vaccinated, I’m vaccinated and it’s not partially over for me. If that makes sense. So a post mortem is needed for a sense of closure. But at the same time, I don’t want to think about any of this for a second longer than I have to.
However, I agree I learned we need very little to be happy. I learned how to adapt recipes based on what was available. I learned some people I trusted could not be trusted. And I learned that I can do what is right – for my family and the greater good – even when other people question it. And while I would have always said I could do that, it was never tested until the pandemic.
Agreeing with Mali and Jess about the pandemic confirming that people won’t act for the common good without strong social pressure/implying it’s an issue of morality. Many failed miserably with doing something like putting on a mask or following social distancing guidelines. What I also learned, though, is that there are people who will make the hard decisions and protect those they love. They masked, got vaccinated, and served their community. Sadly, predicting who would fall into what category was harder than expected. I witnessed someone working for a medical clinic who was telling everyone that COVID was overrated, while also meeting some hardcore republicans who were religious about masks. So the other lesson learned was that people are general not good at assessing risk. Those who have lived through loss generally seem to be better, so maybe that’s the other lesson too.
I wouldn’t put it in the “learned from” category exactly, but two things the pandemic has helped me appreciate are these. If I were living in the kind of setting that many, many, many people have lived in throughout history and do live in today, which is to say one where I didn’t see many new/different people much of the time and where my day-to-day routine likely didn’t change much (think, village/rural, or even defined section of a city I didn’t depart), then (a) the kinds of structure religious observations (daily, weekly, holidays) provide would be HUGELY valuable and appreciated and (b) well, I’d know much less about the world around me and be much more constrained in terms of learning to make do with the things and the people around me. Those are thoughts I’ve reflected on a bunch this past year.
What working mom of 2 said. And also living in a red state is dangerous even for CIS white people (I knew it was dangerous for other groups before).
Agreeing with Jess and Christy on this. I feel like it’s beating a dead horse at this point. Some people just don’t a flying duck. (Pun intended)