A Tale of Two Pandemics

 

I've been focusing on peace in my meditations and as I go about my day. As I cycle through moments of anxiety, I take deep breaths and focus on what I have control over and what I don't have control over. I found myself riding the wild roller coaster of the tale of two pandemics. In Burlington, Vermont people are at crowded bars, dancing the night away and quoted in the news as feeling fearless and free. Their state has the highest vaccination rate and lowest infection rate in the country. Massachusetts is close behind Vermont in its vaccination rate but recently has seen clusters of outbreaks in Provincetown, and Cambridge. There are 5 counties in Massachusetts with high and substantial transmission rates. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its masking guidelines on Tuesday, recom-mending vaccinated individuals wear masks indoors where community transmission levels are classified as high or substantial.

I've had to limit my exposure to news stories and am just checking in to see what the latest mandates are for our area. Our family has made the decision to mask up when we are indoors and stocked up on a new supply of masks. While I feel twinges of sadness, anger and frustration when I look at my bookshelf where, for a brief moment in time, there was space with only one mask per person 'just in case',  I know it does not serve me to dwell in the space of "what if they only waited to lift restrictions until more people were vaccinated." There is no going back. We can only go forward as best we know how, once again navigating unknowns and uncertainty in the wacky world of COVID.

I do know for certain that we have taken every measure we can to ensure a healthy lifestyle mind, body and soul focusing especially on our mental health and well-being. Fear and anxiety, and listening to the 'latest' data which are constantly in flux serve only to suppress the immune system. Finger pointing and blame, what if's and if only's wreak havoc with our body's chemistry.

Peace, on the other hand, allows for the production of the body's natural chemistry that is set to bring balance, healing and a strong immune response. While at times it feels as though the weight of the pandemic is bearing down on us again, it is vital to find joy, laughter, lightness and ease in our lives. Even if it is not happening in the moment, imagining those feelings pulls us out of the vortex of darkness in the moment.

I checked my email as I continued to allow this essay to percolate and received this from Telecharge:

 I felt tears well up in my eyes and a lump in my throat as the reality of the pandemic continues to take center stage in our lives.

We decided now is just not the right time to go to the theater in New York. Wearing a mask for two and a half hours just doesn't appeal to us and part of the thrill of going to the theater is experiencing the crush of people waiting in line to get into the theater. We'd have to present a government issued photo ID along with our proof of vaccination. Wearing a mask before dining on deli or eating Italian at Mama Mia's takes the joy out of the New York City experience.

I hearken back to Lin Manuel Miranda's words to Jimmy Fallon when they were celebrating the re-opening of Broadway, "It's all depending right? On vaccinations and whether or not people will feel comfortable returning to the theater."

All of those invitations with printed out google maps for directions to different events are gone from our refrigerator. There are still lots of posts in my news feed of people who are traveling, dining out, going to bars and acting as if the pandemic has ended. We are going to err on the side of caution as a tale of two pandemics continues on focusing on all we have to be grateful for. 

After we cancelled our New York City trip we bought ice cream savoring the taste of summer in New England watching a glorious sunset. We held a space for our sadness and frustration while expressing what we are each grateful for. 

As the scientists try to sift and sort data, and as politicians focus on what to do about the myriad challenges facing us at this time in our history, I am going to focus on being the change.

 Be The Change

 Wildfires raging
 mood as dark as thick smoke
 enveloping all in its path
 virus' variant wreaking havoc
 
 How to stop the carnage?

 Tears from an open heart extinguish hopelessness
 compassion and kindness fan flames of healing
 turn off talking heads
 turn toward each other
 feel the heal.

 Grateful for blessings great and small
 tender moments
 tending to each other's wounds
 beauty of sunsets
 tomatoes ripe on the vine
 savor and appreciate.

Bind broken heartedness
banding together
we are one
powerful to effect change
one action creates ripples
slowly
reversing
damage we once wrought. 

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness,
Mary

Visit my website to learn more about my journey of transformation in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.

Be sure to listen to my recent conversation with Liz Brunner, award winning journalist, now CEO of Brunner Communications on her podcast Live Your Best Life. I share how I live my best life despite the challenges that I faced at an early age.

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