What struck me the most in mid March when the gravity of this pandemic started to take hold was how it felt like the whole world just stopped. None of us knew what was happening and what to do to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe so everyone that could, stopped. We stopped going to work (some working from home, some furloughed or laid off). We stopped eating in restaurants. We stopped going to the grocery store, the box stores. We stopped seeing our friends. It all just stopped. It was astonishing to see how fast hundreds of millions, even billions of people, just stopped. Of course during all this grocery store employees, hospital workers, truck drivers, etc found themselves scrambling to keep up with demand. Frantically trying to restock after panic buying subsided and people tried to figure out how to get a roll of toilet paper. Working to save lives and hoping that their hospitals could keep up. To go restaurants flourished as well. But for most of us, we were looking at a very different pace than we were used to.
For me, this experience was less jarring than I expected it to be. Because my business was still functioning (albeit at an extremely reduced rate), I found myself with quite a bit to do. It was different than what I was used to but I was busy and hopeful. Eventually though, I caught up with demand and then for a little while I stopped too. I only left the house for a weekly grocery run and one client’s dog walks. I spent some time trying to find masks and hand sanitizer for my staff but I did most of that from home. I had so much time. My house was clean. My dogs and I were well exercised. It was kind of nice.
I recognize the huge scope and tragedy of the situation we all find ourselves in. Literally thousands of Americans are dying every day and I have to wonder if we could have done more sooner to prevent that. We are in the situation we’re in though and all we can do is our best going forward. I’ve learned a lot about how much time I really need to decompress and while I’m hugely anxious about the state of the world going forward, my daily anxieties have gone down a lot. I’m hoping to keep that even as we start opening back up.