I'm generally okay with Alone. I was an only child so I was alone a lot as a kid and I never found it threatening or scary, nor did it make me feel even the slightest bit unloved. If anything, it was great for reading comic books or making up my own silly little stories. I always knew Alone was not a permanent condition and that I wasn't alone in the world. I just didn't have anyone else with me at that moment.
Sometimes, being alone can be very liberating because it frees you from having to do things to please another person. You can just think about your needs and be totally self-indulgent. Yes, there are downsides but don't forget the upsides.
These days with cellphones and FaceTime and e-mail and free unlimited calling and text messages and this blog and all sorts of other things, I never feel alone, though it would be nice to have some physical contact with a certain person. It's always been nice to have physical contact with a certain person even though that certain person has changed over the years…but, again, I'm aware that's not a permanent situation so I can get through it Here are some other thoughts…
I find that it's helping me to minimize watching the news, reading the eighty zillion articles (mostly theories of questionable pedigree) and to especially avoid the political ramifications of it all. And what I'm most avoiding is apocalyptic "we're all gonna die" people.
And that applies to folks in my e-mail and on my phone. If you want to panic about the future and whether there even is one, panic in some other direction. I don't need to hear it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want you to try and convince me of it. I am at a place of contented (if impatient) optimism and I don't need anyone trying to drag me away from it.
Not watching the news much means not having my TV tuned to live channels much, although I give in when I get a text message that some local station is covering a police pursuit. Otherwise, the TV is set to display the output of my DVD player. I'm working through the stacks of DVDs I've had here forever and not gotten around to watching. This pandemic will be a memory long before I get through those stacks.
I have enough food and things like toilet paper and paper towels to last me a few weeks. Part of that is because I've always had that on the premises and part is because I've spent some time this past week working the Internet, finding places that would deliver and making some realistic (I hope) estimates on what I will need and when. Some of this involves going back over and over to certain websites waiting for the magical phrase, "Delivery times are available."
I have this thing about expiration dates on food. I know that most products are quite edible after the printed date on the package but I just don't like to do that. So I made up a little list of what I have and the "Best when used by…" dates and I take that into account when I decide what to eat. Today, I plan to finish up some pasta that I made last night and to use up a package of ground beef that expires on 3/25. I may wind up browning the ground beef and putting it in the pasta and, hey, now that I type that, it sounds like a good idea.
In my garage, I have a box containing 90 cans of Friskies canned cat food and also a 22 lb. bag of Friskies Seafood Sensations dry food…which you can tell is seafood because the little nuggets of mystery substance are stamped out in fish shapes. I haven't even gotten to the food in the garage yet so Lydia and Murphy will be fine for months. There's way more food here for them than there is for me. I don't have 90 cans of tuna or 90 cans of Spaghettios.
Sometimes when I'm working here, I'm in the mood to have music on…but the kind of music that plays in the background and doesn't require direct concentration. If I want "elevator music" of old songs, I can play it from this website. If I want oldies, I can play them from this website. If I want something more modern, there's this website but the more modern it gets, the more it causes me to pay attention to the music instead of what I'm doing.
It also helps to keep reminding myself what day it is. When you have nothing on your calendar and you're not watching live TV, it's easy to forget.
I've been alternating washing my hands with soap and dousing them with hand sanitizer — and I've learned that this requires a lot less hand sanitizer than I've used in the past. A squirt about the size of a quarter gets the job done fine.
I also periodically put drops in my eyes to stop them from itching, thereby minimizing my tendency to unconsciously rub them. My ophthalmologist recommended this stuff to me and my peepers love it. Ask your doctor if Lumify™ is right for you.
Lastly for now, I keep busy. I'm getting a number of assignments done at a pleasant pace. They'll all be done on time even though no one would fault me for being late given what's going on in the world. I'm also taking time to write things for myself…things I may or may not sell or publish. And yes, I'm also writing some long posts that you'll probably see on this here blog if you keep clicking in this direction. A friend of mine told me she's using this time to take online courses, including one to learn French. If you don't have something constructive to do, find something. Don't waste this opportunity because we'll never have a downtime like this again. If we're lucky.