Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Shot booked

A moment I’ve been waiting for is now days away. I will get my vaccine on Monday night. I’ll probably walk there, the location is on my street less than 15 minutes away. I haven’t looked forward to something like this since I was a kid going to Disney World.

It feels like this day was never going to come. Now that it’s booked, I am excited for myself, but I also can’t wait for every last person who wants one to get one. I worry about too many people not wanting one, and the continual spread of very contagious variants. I wonder about how long until life resumes to some kind of normal?

But despite all these questions and concerns, a big life moment is happening for me on Monday night. I’ll allow myself to feel the same level of excitement of 9 year old me the night before I flew from Barbados to Orlando, to first go to Disney World and then to move to Toronto, Canada.

It’s celebration time! 😃

Waiting in Limbo

I’ve gotten terribly tired of waiting. I want to stomp my feet, and scrunch up my face, and whine like a petulant child until I get my vaccine. When is it my turn? How much longer? What about me?

Oh, I know that the protocols will still be there; restaurants will still only be takeout; I won’t be suddenly having friends over; and, I’ll still be wearing a mask for some time. I know my day-to-day life won’t change much after my first shot. But getting that shot can’t happen fast enough for me.

It’s the next step forward. Its movement away from a year-plus-long state of limbo, and towards the promise of normalcy… even if we are still far away from things going back to normal.

It’s getting closer to happening but it feels like each day is exponentially longer as I wait my turn. It makes me feel impatient, frustrated, and melancholy. I know that’s all in my head. I know that thinking about it stretches my perception of the days before it happens even longer. That doesn’t seem to matter. What matters is that I’m still waiting. And yes, I’m still being cautious, I’m still trying to stay positive, I’m still taking my Vitamin D… and I’m still waiting.

A whole-lot-a noth’n

I didn’t think I’d spend the last days of my March break coasting, but I have. Usually a break for me is a time to refocus on fitness and really push myself. Not this break. Yesterday and today involved long naps and very little done.

I had some fun shooting arrows, and I had a lovely walk with my wife… and I did a whole lot of nothing else. It’s a bit anti-climatic, but I also realize something interesting. Usually I need to get a lot of exercise in, and push myself on my breaks, because I’ve been a sloth during the time that I’m at work. But until last week, I’ve had at least 5 workouts a week all year. I’ve been pushing myself since January 2019, and I’m in great shape. Sure the past 2 weeks have slid me off of my new fitness goal, but so what? I’ll get right on that tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest.

I’m going to chalk this up as a needed break. I’m going to blame covid. I’m going to write it off and start anew. But for now, I’m going to squeeze this daily post in after 11pm for the second night I’m a row. I’m going to forgive myself for missing my first meditation in about 140 days, last Thursday, and I’m going to count my 5k walk with my wife as my exercise for today.

I’m also going to shoot some more arrows tomorrow, and skip the email catchup until I get to work on Tuesday. I’m going to ride out tomorrow as my last lazy day of holidays, and hopefully hit Tuesday morning with a whole lot more energy. But tomorrow, I’m giving myself full permission to do a whole lot of not much, and feel good about this as a choice I’m making to end my break.

Limbo

I was in our local drug store yesterday and they were taking walk-ins for the covid-19 vaccine. People just needed to be 55 years old or older to get it. I’m a year and a half too young and so I couldn’t get mine. It was wonderful to see, but also so frustrating that I still have to wait. I know it’s not a quick fix, I know I work in schools where students will not be vaccinated for quite some time. I know we will have strict protocols right through the end of June, and potentially when we start up in September again. I know all this, but I feel like I’m in perpetual limbo waiting for my turn to get the vaccine.

I also wonder about all the people choosing not to take the vaccine. Vaccines are not perfect, but neither are countless over the counter drugs that people use every day. For instance, ibuprofen is a drug many people take way too frequently and can be very bad for you.  Here is some information about ibuprofen:

“Regular use of ibuprofen may eventually cause:

  • kidney and liver damage
  • bleeding in the stomach and bowels
  • increased risk of heart attack.”

And, “NSAIDs such ibuprofen can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke in people with or without heart disease or the risk factors for heart disease.”

In a global pandemic, no vaccine is going to be perfect, but the fear mongering and paranoid opportunists have pushed the anti-vax stupidity to what would be comical levels if the consequences of their stupidity weren’t spreading so quickly. I’m frequently surprised by people sharing concerns about the vaccine who seem to have very limited understanding of what research has been done, people who confuse RNA with DNA, and people who cherry pick their information from biased news sources and spout their bias as ‘facts’.

All this leads me to think that when I finally get the vaccine, while I’ll sigh a little sigh of relief, and while I’ll do a little happy dance… I just might find myself in the same limbo a while longer. I’m not sure it’s going to bring me as much comfort as I would like it to.

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Meanwhile, as a PSA… Keep taking your Vitamin D!  (See ‘Vitamin D and Covid-19‘ and ‘Vitamin D could save your life‘.)

Work on the brain

Got an email from the district to send to parents about the new Covid-19 rules in effect when we return to school on Tuesday.

The big changes for our school bolded:

o All students Grades 4-12 are required to wear a mask inside schools both within and outside their learning group.

o All staff K-12 are required to wear a mask inside schools both within and outside their learning group.

Essentially, students and staff will be wearing masks all day, as opposed to having the option of removing them when at their own desks. This is important information, and as instructed, I’ll send it off to parents (and students and staff) tomorrow.

Since reading that email, my brain has been on work, and on the pandemic. Things to do, and things to be concerned about. Sometimes I can’t let things go. I can’t relax. Today feels like it was a work day, even though I didn’t go to work. It’s going to take a bit to get back into holiday mode. I want a few more days of holiday brain before work brain fully takes over.

Restrictions again

As of midnight last night, we can no longer eat in indoor restaurant seating (again). I get why: Coronavirus numbers in BC are high, and greater restrictions need to happen to stop the spread. But these restrictions came with very little notice. I can’t imagine being a waiter now, and finding out shifts will be dropped. I wouldn’t want to be a restaurant owner, knowing that profits are going to take a big hit, and wondering if I could sustain this if the restrictions are extended beyond the scheduled three weeks.

There are also stricter mask rules in schools, with older elementary students needing to wear them, rather than this being optional. And the most hard-hit school district is getting their staff vaccinated first (this is wonderful to see), I hope our district gets the opportunity in the very near future.

I wish we could do a lockdown like New Zealand. That we could just put a chokehold on the spread of this virus and get it under control. This won’t happen in BC. Instead we do this dance of quick ‘fix’ restrictions (with little or no notice), while also flirting with new opportunities to gather in small groups (outdoors). We play this ‘push me pull you’ game of experimentation to see how little we can affect everyone’s lives while trying to curb coronavirus spread.

I keep going back to my survival mantra: Things will start to normalize by January 2022. This keeps me going, keeps me vigilant. I see timelines suggesting that things will happen faster, but I can’t hold on to these false senses of comfort. Promises of normalcy make added restrictions like this feel crushing… small losses with a promise of small gains. I can’t handle the swings if I think things will start to get better sooner. So, while restrictions are being added, I see them as part of the agenda to normalize by the new year. Until then, bring in the restrictions! Maybe make them tougher now, maybe lay out a plan that people can prepare for.

I’d rather do what’s necessary now than reach December and see my timeline that wrote off all of 2021 be seen as unrealistic rather than pessimistic. I want to be pleasantly surprised to see things get better by then, not drastically disappointed because I need to push the date back further.

0.9 Percent

There are well over 5 million people in BC. Yesterday less than 50,000 people were vaccinated. Less than 1 percent. I know things are ramping up, and many good people are doing the best they can to support quick (and fair) distribution of the vaccine. And I know 50,000 vaccinations in a single day is good… But when I see the challenges the US has, and the fact that they have vaccinated as many as they have, it makes me wonder what else we could be doing? And what else should have already happened?

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I don’t want to jump the queue, but I want everyone who wants a vaccine to get it faster than the current rate. It should be possible to make this happen.

Taking a real break

There’s always more to do.

Always.

But sometimes you just need a break. Or rather, I do.

Spring break is here and I’ve got a two week break. Shortly after I return I’ll have an opportunity to book my vaccine. I’m heading into a break with optimism and hope… and I’m letting go of work for a good part of this time.

I’ll spend time with family, shoot a lot of arrows, workout (hard), binge watch some shows, listen to a fictional book… and do a little bit of nothing without feeling like I’m procrastinating.

There’s always more to do, but now is a time to do things for me.

Reconnecting with friends

Yesterday I was listening to a podcast and there was a poem on Friendship by David Whyte. I shared a minute of it on Twitter and a few other places.

I think that the absolute hardest part of the pandemic has been the challenge of not seeing friends and family. Yes, we can connect digitally, but I miss those face-to-face connections. However, if I’m honest, I am missing an opportunity that I didn’t take full advantage of before the pandemic. I didn’t take enough time to see friends even before restrictions were in place.

Life gets so busy and we all get caught up in our own worlds. This is a lame but honest excuse. We spend our days without filling it with the company we enjoy. We get caught up in routines and recycle our days rather than plan them. I hope to be more intentional when things open up.

I have a buddy that I see and don’t see in waves. Sometimes we get into a rut where we see each other and just sit and chat about life and the awesome history we have together. Sometimes we get bored with that and plan experiences because we want to make new memories rather than rehash the old. Right now, I’d like nothing better than to sit and have a beverage with him and just be in his presence.

Connecting for the sake of connecting… that’s what I’m looking forward to. Hugs, clinking glasses, and sharing time in the presence of friends.

A night out

Went out for a dinner with my family tonight. My wife’s birthday is coming up in a few days. It’s nice to have a family night out, to feel a little normalcy.

I know the vaccine is headed our way. I also know that this will mean slow and gradual changes, not a sudden reset. So nights like this are still pretty special.