– Matthew Quick, The Silver Linings Playbook (2008)
Please consider the potential silver linings provided by this enforced sheltering in place during the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic. We are all in this together (at a distance of at least six feet) and there are the little things we can do to weather this crisis. Here are a few in no special order.
Enjoy your family (from a reasonable distance). Prepare a special meal. Read that book or watch that film you have not had time for. Listen to some music. Sing (even if only in the shower in consideration of others reasonably nearby). Work on some craft projects you have been putting off. Address the odd jobs around the house that need doing. Send a sympathetic e-mail to a friend (better yet write a letter and mail it). Keep a journal or a diary and record how you are confronting this crisis; it will be a valuable historical record one day. Open a bottle of wine you have been saving for a special occasion and enjoy it without regrets. Remember spring has just arrived; enjoy the flowers and budding trees outside your windows. Wave to your neighbors and shout out a greeting and wish them well. Sing to them if you dare. Play with and cuddle your pets who don’t understand why you are always around (or maybe they do). Light some candles and burn some incense. Take time to meditate or pray.
I am sure there are other things I might suggest. Be creative. Come up with other ideas and share them with your family, your friends and your neighbors. Now is the time when a sense of community means so much more. Margaret J. Wheatley perhaps said it best. "There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."
Finally, take time to remember our health care and public safety officials who are sacrificing their own silver linings to protect us in this time of crisis.
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