A Change for the Better
More and more people are writing about how much the world will change while everyone is in lockdown. Too many are looking at it from the viewpoint that we’ll lose more than we’ll gain. Call me a Pollyanna, but I can’t help thinking it opens up a multitude of opportunities to improve on what we have, and how we treat our world; the resources, the people, even how we spend the most limited resource of all; time.
What I do know for certain is I’ve been reassessing my opinion of people time. The longer I go without human contact, the more it seems to be affecting my nervous system. I’m sleeping poorly, experiencing insomnia at 4 in the morning fairly regularly, and the migraines that had become virtually non-existent are back. Though the symptoms are partially assuaged by Zoom dance nights and chats, the only real cure is some in-person time, even if it has to be at the prescribed social distance.
Naturally, I miss the hugs and physical closeness, though as an introvert, maybe not as desperately as some of my friends. I’m learning to seek alternatives in areas which never interested me in the past. Though what constitutes lawns in my front and back yards are overgrown with weeds, my planter has never looked better.
A New Appreciation For My Plot of Land
I’ve managed to hack away at some of the taller weeds in the front with my small weed 
whacker. How long it will last with the amount of abuse I’m subjecting it to is anyone’s guess. Perhaps a heavier duty version is in my future? Meanwhile, a friend dug up an old lawnmower and edger that have been in storage since moving into a condo, and is helping me get the yard back into a somewhat manageable state.
Getting out in the yard when I’m feeling the most stressed and restless has served two purposes, really. It’s helping me maintain my upper body strength (wielding even a light-weight weed whacker is harder work than I realized!) while giving me some cardio as well, all while cleaning up planters that have long been neglected. With less people on the streets right now, I’m even able to enjoy birdsong instead of canned music in my ears. Until now, I never realized the difference in how it affected me could be so profound.
Overall, I think people are going to treat the outdoors with a lot more respect for the time they were denied it’s use. Closure of parks, beaches, and hiking trails when humans weren’t able to voluntarily maintain social distance has been especially hard on those used to escaping to the hills (literally) when life got too crazy.
Allowing People and Trees to Breathe
For those whose confinement means a condo or apartment, they’re discovering how much they’d taken for granted the ability to go outdoors when their four walls became too confining. I’ve already realized it, but for now, it’s given me a renewed appreciation for the large piece of land my tract house sits on. Newer developments aren’t so generous with land as they were when my house was built, and a 4-bedroom house on about 8000 square feet of land could be had for a mere $10,000.
So far, I’ve only touched on a renewed appreciation, but I think people are also learning that slowing down doesn’t mean slower progress. In fact, taking time to relax and reset are assets we’ve long overlooked as a necessary part of our health and forward progress. Like the tortoise and the hare, we make more headway by moving slowly and purposefully than by running pell mell into the world, plowing through, or over everything in our paths. By slowing down, we learn to look at things more consciously, often realizing the things we once saw as obstacles were really helpers who would have moved us further, faster had we only stopped to listen.
It’s impossible to ignore the positive changes our environment is seeing with less driving, and less people swarming the globe. Air and waterways are cleaner, animals are returning to old stomping grounds. Even my hungry raccoon family is visiting less often. I can only assume their natural foraging grounds are yielding more food between the latest rains and lack of human presence. I’m sure they’re happier finding food without having to enter human habitats. Though they’ve learned I don’t begrudge them a meal, they’re happier when they don’t have to encounter me at all.
Life Off the Hamster Wheel
The most valuable change of all, in my opinion, is the resumption of family time. With parents 
either working from home, or not at all, and kids doing their schoolwork via Zoom, they get to spend a lot more time together. There are few if any business trips, or adult gatherings with friends at restaurants and bars. People are re-learning to interact with each other because immediate family is their only direct, human contact. I’m sure they’re enjoying a less stressful life as a result.
People who live alone don’t get the benefit of extra family time, and some are suffering dearly for it. Others are learning to connect in other ways, or take on projects that always waited “until I have time”. The time is now to repaint a room, or dig a garden, or sew, or read, or… The beauty is, each person gets to pick the special projects they want to work on without worrying about it conflicting with the things they once deemed more important.
As much as many miss what they considered the creature comforts; hair cuts, manicures, massages, nights out with friends to restaurants, bars, theaters, or movies, I have to wonder if they’ll be a bit slower to return to the hamster wheels they considered normal once they realize how well they’ve managed to function while those things weren’t accessible. How many will spend more time in their yards, or at parks and hiking trails than at malls and spas?
Renewed Appreciation of the Great Outdoors
As one of the lucky ones who has a house with an ample yard (despite the constant thunking of a basketball at the house behind me), I’ve gained a new appreciation for the space that’s more vast than the square footage of my house. I want and need to spend more time there, and away from the distractions I allowed myself to occupy me inside. Days on the patio, on my porch, or amidst the weeds are becoming more essential to my well-being than a veg in front of the TV, computer games, or sinking into the sofa with a good book.
I’ve learned I can easily (and sometimes do a better job) write or read outside. Birdsong has replaced Pandora for my listening enjoyment, and gardening has, perhaps less thoroughly but more productively replaced the gym. All in all, I see the forthcoming changes to be more beneficial than not, and am embracing whatever is to come. I’m enjoying the process of reconnecting with myself.
About the Author
Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri 
believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income. If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author. And check out her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming releases of ” Rebuilding After Suicide” and “Sasha’s Journey”.
