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gaudior12) Go the fuck outside.
Not, obviously, if you're actively having symptoms of Covid-19, especially sneezing or coughing. And even if you're not, wear a mask/sunglasses if you're likely to go within six feet of another person, and wear gloves if you're going to be touching something other people touch a lot, and wash your hands thoroughly when you get home. But leave the damn house.
I realize that there needs to be a balance, here. Certainly, in early days of the pandemic (and possibly some places even now), people were being horrifyingly cavalier about going about their daily social interactions exactly as per life antebellum (antepestem?), and that was a terrible idea.
But I keep talking to people who are terrified to leave their actual houses. And I understand, because it's gotten weird out there. People are wearing masks, and everyone's backing away from each other nervously, and stores and other landmarks you love have big "closed" or "only open for take-out" signs on the doors. There are closed signs on the playgrounds, and netting around the basketball hoops in the park. There's almost no traffic, which is honestly kind of nice, but that doesn't make it less weird. It's feeling odd. It's feeling postapocalyptic. If you can forget for a moment that there's a pandemic going on, you'll soon run into something to remind you.
Not to mention the whole, "there are other people who have a deadly disease out there, and I might get it, and die, or bring it home to the vulnerable people in my home," thing. Or, in the other case, "I might have a deadly disease, and not know it, and give it to people out there, and kill them." Those are both terrifying ideas, and of course, avoiding the whole thing is appealing.
But take it from someone who's been going outside every day*: there is more good than bad to be had out there.
For one thing, we need Vitamin D, and supplements are nice and all, but sunlight is better. Vitamin D deficiency doesn't just affect your immune system, it also increases fatigue and depression. We do not need any more fatigue and depression right now.
And sunlight isn't just good for Vitamin D-- it's also incredibly useful in setting your biological clock. I mentioned the other day that many people are having trouble getting enough sleep, and that has many many reasons (stress is certainly one; lack of exercise another), but not getting enough sunlight to tell your circadian rhythm when it's day, so that it will know when it's night, is not going to help at all.
Also, while you definitely can exercise in your home, there are so many more ways of doing so that are more fun outside, and require less equipment. Biking, walking, running (okay, I hate running, don't ask me about running. People who like it say it's pretty great), they all feel better outside than in.
Because it is beautiful out there right now. In the northern hemisphere, it's spring. In my area, flowers are coming out everywhere, the skies are admittedly often rainy, but sometimes it's warm, and there's a sweet, gentle breeze. The sun is out earlier and later, the birds are coming back and singing about starting their families, the trees are just beginning to bud. It feels fresh out there. It feels renewing, and alive. We may be having a pandemic, but nature is all about new life right now, and it helps.
It helps. It helps to leave the house. When you stay inside all day every day, because there's too much danger to step outside your door, the world feels more dangerous. The coronavirus feels more infectious, more deadly, more likely to jump out and get you if you make the slightest wrong move. I do not have studies to prove this, but I think that the people who go outside with reasonable precautions are also the people who are feeling less terrified of not washing their hands enough, of not masking perfectly, of unavoidable contagion. In reality, there is danger, absolutely. But not a hide-in-your-homes-under-the-bed-the-Vikings-are-raiding-your-town kind of danger. And hiding in your home, seeing nothing but the same walls day after day after day, makes you feel like there is.
There are, of course, ways to go outside more safely. Walk early in the morning, or late at night, when fewer people are around. Go on back-streets instead of main streets or parks with trails, because sadly, if you're anywhere like the city I live in, fucking everybody is on the trails in the parks. Try places where you can reasonably go off the trail. Try your balcony, or your own backyard, if you have one. Try the roof of your building, if you don't. Try college campuses, if they're not locked, because there are big grassy lawns completely empty of the usual students. An empty parking lot may not have much nature there to appreciate, but you can at least get some sun. Walk and dance in the rain, if it's warm enough, and think deep raindrops-on-your-umbrella thoughts. Climb a tree. Walk on a fence. Plant some sort of plant, and see if it wants to come out of the ground.
Just... go outside. It will be okay. It will be more okay than you think it will.
Have fun.
--R
*As a psychotherapist, I cannot do confidential work inside a relatively small apartment with two other adults and a small child who sees no reason why he can't be with me at all times. So I ride my bike (or drive on rainy days) to my empty office, where I sit and do virtual calls every weekday. As the parent of a small child, I take him outside every weekend day because otherwise there would be no quiet or sleep or calm for anyone, ever again. So you see.
Not, obviously, if you're actively having symptoms of Covid-19, especially sneezing or coughing. And even if you're not, wear a mask/sunglasses if you're likely to go within six feet of another person, and wear gloves if you're going to be touching something other people touch a lot, and wash your hands thoroughly when you get home. But leave the damn house.
I realize that there needs to be a balance, here. Certainly, in early days of the pandemic (and possibly some places even now), people were being horrifyingly cavalier about going about their daily social interactions exactly as per life antebellum (antepestem?), and that was a terrible idea.
But I keep talking to people who are terrified to leave their actual houses. And I understand, because it's gotten weird out there. People are wearing masks, and everyone's backing away from each other nervously, and stores and other landmarks you love have big "closed" or "only open for take-out" signs on the doors. There are closed signs on the playgrounds, and netting around the basketball hoops in the park. There's almost no traffic, which is honestly kind of nice, but that doesn't make it less weird. It's feeling odd. It's feeling postapocalyptic. If you can forget for a moment that there's a pandemic going on, you'll soon run into something to remind you.
Not to mention the whole, "there are other people who have a deadly disease out there, and I might get it, and die, or bring it home to the vulnerable people in my home," thing. Or, in the other case, "I might have a deadly disease, and not know it, and give it to people out there, and kill them." Those are both terrifying ideas, and of course, avoiding the whole thing is appealing.
But take it from someone who's been going outside every day*: there is more good than bad to be had out there.
For one thing, we need Vitamin D, and supplements are nice and all, but sunlight is better. Vitamin D deficiency doesn't just affect your immune system, it also increases fatigue and depression. We do not need any more fatigue and depression right now.
And sunlight isn't just good for Vitamin D-- it's also incredibly useful in setting your biological clock. I mentioned the other day that many people are having trouble getting enough sleep, and that has many many reasons (stress is certainly one; lack of exercise another), but not getting enough sunlight to tell your circadian rhythm when it's day, so that it will know when it's night, is not going to help at all.
Also, while you definitely can exercise in your home, there are so many more ways of doing so that are more fun outside, and require less equipment. Biking, walking, running (okay, I hate running, don't ask me about running. People who like it say it's pretty great), they all feel better outside than in.
Because it is beautiful out there right now. In the northern hemisphere, it's spring. In my area, flowers are coming out everywhere, the skies are admittedly often rainy, but sometimes it's warm, and there's a sweet, gentle breeze. The sun is out earlier and later, the birds are coming back and singing about starting their families, the trees are just beginning to bud. It feels fresh out there. It feels renewing, and alive. We may be having a pandemic, but nature is all about new life right now, and it helps.
It helps. It helps to leave the house. When you stay inside all day every day, because there's too much danger to step outside your door, the world feels more dangerous. The coronavirus feels more infectious, more deadly, more likely to jump out and get you if you make the slightest wrong move. I do not have studies to prove this, but I think that the people who go outside with reasonable precautions are also the people who are feeling less terrified of not washing their hands enough, of not masking perfectly, of unavoidable contagion. In reality, there is danger, absolutely. But not a hide-in-your-homes-under-the-bed-the-Vikings-are-raiding-your-town kind of danger. And hiding in your home, seeing nothing but the same walls day after day after day, makes you feel like there is.
There are, of course, ways to go outside more safely. Walk early in the morning, or late at night, when fewer people are around. Go on back-streets instead of main streets or parks with trails, because sadly, if you're anywhere like the city I live in, fucking everybody is on the trails in the parks. Try places where you can reasonably go off the trail. Try your balcony, or your own backyard, if you have one. Try the roof of your building, if you don't. Try college campuses, if they're not locked, because there are big grassy lawns completely empty of the usual students. An empty parking lot may not have much nature there to appreciate, but you can at least get some sun. Walk and dance in the rain, if it's warm enough, and think deep raindrops-on-your-umbrella thoughts. Climb a tree. Walk on a fence. Plant some sort of plant, and see if it wants to come out of the ground.
Just... go outside. It will be okay. It will be more okay than you think it will.
Have fun.
--R
*As a psychotherapist, I cannot do confidential work inside a relatively small apartment with two other adults and a small child who sees no reason why he can't be with me at all times. So I ride my bike (or drive on rainy days) to my empty office, where I sit and do virtual calls every weekday. As the parent of a small child, I take him outside every weekend day because otherwise there would be no quiet or sleep or calm for anyone, ever again. So you see.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 12:28 am (UTC)I like "antepestem."
We don't have a back yard, but I have been chronicling flowering trees in the streets around our block. (I can spend a day or two consecutive days inside if I have to, but after that, if I do not get sunlight and motion, I go nuts.)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 12:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 12:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 01:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 02:02 am (UTC)N.B. For info about how sleep stuff works + tips and tricks for getting better sleep, check out healthysleep.med.harvard.edu.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-11 07:07 pm (UTC)