A Covid Moment

How has this Covid-19 quarantine rocked your world? My “trained-in-logic” kids would tell me that’s a loaded question. I suppose first I should ask: Has the Covid-19 quarantine changed your world? And if so, how?

My college son is home from Montana State finishing out his freshman year with on-line classes.  My daughter who is a high school teacher in Bend moved out of her rental house and is choosing our house for her command central. With a move to telemedicine, I am spending less time physically at the office and more time at my home office.

Because I have a little more time on my hands, I am endeavoring to maintain my motivation to complete those not so fun tasks at the bottom of the honey-do jar. I have washed my windows… twice now. I deep cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the ceiling. Yes, I said vacuumed the ceiling. (I have this neato vacuum attachment that allows me to vacuum the dust that collects on the fancy plaster effect my husband created on our ceilings. It’s so cool.)

I have to say though, I have certainly noticed a difference in the quality of my energy. In general, I have a lot of natural energy which usually keeps me going at a steady pace from 5 AM until about 9PM when its lights out. But lately I feel amped like a drank one too many cups of coffee. Maybe you can relate.

I was driving to my office the first day back after a week’s vacation, in order to meet a patient there to give them essential medication samples. I was going over in my mind how I would follow the newly imposed social distancing rules,  how I would handle the sample box, where I would put it, how I would wipe down the areas I touched, calling to mind the exact location of the gloves in the office. I was playing out the entire scenario in my head all the while the news was clambering  in the back ground, the increase in number of Covid-19 cases, not enough testing, too much testing, the wrong kind of testing, and on and on and on.

When I arrived at my office I pulled into the alley as I normally would on any other generic workday to park in my parking lot which is just to the east of my building, again, the way I usually would. And to my surprise and utter shock I come to find that I can’t park in my parking lot. All six spaces of my small parking lot were cordoned off with caution tape.  Yes, caution tape! My heart skipped a beat. My stomach jumped into the back of my throat. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I broke out into a cold sweat.

My first thought was that someone who had been to my office prior to my vacation and prior to the recent quarantine guidelines had contracted Covid-19 and the health department must have traced the infection back to my office and shut it down. Not knowing what to do, I drove around the block and pulled in the alley again, just to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me. No, the caution tape was still there. I drove around again, this time through the nearby Salem Health outpatient clinic parking lot to see if they were cordoned off. No. It was only my office.

This did not help me calm down. I drove around the block one more time. Do I touch the caution tape? Do I call the hospital or the health department? Do I dare even set foot into the office? Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Covid-19. Maybe it was a crime scene. After all there are a few sketchy houses in the area. (Clearly, I had been watching too much Mentalist.)

My frontal cortex finally took over. Julie, it’s your office, I reasoned to myself. The county would have contacted you if there was a problem.  I told Siri to call my landlord. The call went immediately to his voicemail and in a very cool, calm, collected voice,  I left a message, “Hi Kevin, this is Julie, so I was just wondering, do you by chance know anything about the caution tape blocking the Waller Street parking lot? Give me a call, no hurry, ok, thanks, bye.”

I also called my husband. No answer. I parked on the street and went inside.

Everything was eerily the same. No health department signs posted. No do not cross indications. No chalk outlines. The place was clean and tidy just the way I left it a week ago. Still, I peeked out the window every few minutes to see if the tape was still there. My mind was laboriously trying to solve the case when my patient arrived to pick up the sample.

“Where did you park?” I asked nonchalantly.

“In the street,” the patient answered, “your parking lot is blocked off.” Pregnant pause. I looked at my feet and cleared my throat, grasping for an explanation as to why when the patient broke the awkward silence. “The painter did a great job on the striping by the way; it looks way better.”

Good thing I was standing more than six feet away because I burst out laughing, feeling like a fool. I rushed to the window and raked back the blinds. Sure enough, the stripes were bright white, freshly painted, demarcating all six parking spaces. I laughed a deep belly laugh. The patient laughed along with me as I recounted the many different scenarios I had painted in my mind.

As they were leaving, I encouraged my patient to stay well and maintain a strong immune system by continuing to practice all the principles  we teach at Oregon Weight and Wellness: drink water, eat 5 cups and 5 colors of veggies daily, choose high quality protein at every meal, incorporate healthy fats, avoid processed foods, hold desserts for special occasions, move your body, sleep well, and manage stress mindfully.

If we are not mindful, we can let fear and anxiety take over and we come up with worst case scenarios. Apparently, I am no exception. As opposed to operating in wisdom, unhealthy fear can give rise to more fear and pretty soon the sky is falling and world is coming to an end.

After I had another good laugh at myself, I sighed a deep sigh. Peace filled my mind and stilled my soul. I can stay informed, I resolved, without 24/7 news. I do have time to get outside and breathe fresh air. I will focus on the present and meditate on whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely. And hopefully, I will learn from this Covid-19 moment so I can manage the next one way different.