Adjusting to Life in the Time of COVID-19

Our Time.

It’s only been eight days since writing, but it seems like months. Like Marnie McBean, Canada’s Chef de Mission for the 2020 -2021 Olympic Games said when explaining the difficulty in making the (right) decision to not send Canada if the games were not postponed, “COVID-19 time is not the same as normal time.”

I couldn’t agree more. 

It seems that now more than ever, every day is the same yet different than the one before. It is the same in that we are staying at home, adhering to the need to “physically distance” (I prefer this to “socially distance”) ourselves in order to help control the spread of the virus. It is different in that we are getting closer and closer to what we have seen in other countries. I’m not going to spend much time focusing on the depressing and upsetting facts and details of which many of us are already aware, but will say that when I got an email yesterday from my college, the College of Dietitians of Ontario entitled, “Urgent: COVID-19 Healthcare Provider Recruitment – Are you Available?”, I was once again reminded about how serious this is.

I remember learning during my dietetic internship about how we, as healthcare providers, could be called upon in the case of a pandemic or state of emergency. Of course, you think it will never happen. But, like many other difficult dinner time conversations we’ve recently had, we discussed this one. I completed the on-line form, stating that I was ready and willing to be placed where needed most. 

After writing this first paragraph I joined my husband and three kids to a game of pictionary, followed by a game of euchre. It’s during these moments that I often forget about COVID-19, this pandemic that I am calling, “our pause on life.”  

Writing. 

On March 10 I learned that the March 15 New York City Half Marathon, which I was planning to race, was cancelled. I wrote about it here. Despite the thought that the Tokyo Marathon might be the only major race cancellation, when the virus had not yet surfaced in North America, it became evident that it was just a matter of time. So I chose to stay positive and turn to social media to share my thoughts and feelings. I posted a picture of my NYC mug that I got, with an abundance of chocolate sweets, from the M&M store when racing there in 2014. I was hoping to make another return as I’ve also been to the M&M store when racing in London, England. But it wasn’t meant to be.

On March 16, the first day of March break, I posted a picture on my Instagram story of a pen, a pad of paper, and another coffee cup with the caption “Creating ‘the schedule’ and ‘send help.’ Every day since then I’ve started my day with a picture of a new coffee cup, followed by pictures and updates on training, life at home with the kids, COVID-19 and Olympics news, and words of gratitude before I head out the door for my run.

Over the next while, I will summarize some of these past stories and write further ones about this new life we are living. Stay tuned.