What a difference a week makes! Last week I was attending business meetings downtown and having lunch at restaurants and grabbing coffee with friends in cafes. This week I am sheltering at home with my husband, Michael, and living my life on Zoom. Signs abound around town with closings of restaurants, clothing stores, and other businesses. Needless to say, Open Houses and Broker Tours are currently a thing of the past. I have been reaching out to clients to check in and see how they are holding up with working at home and home schooling for many. I’ve talked to some people who are still very busy – estate attorneys, mortgage brokers, and CPAs. For many however, work has slowed down and for some, it has come to a complete halt.
We know that eventually life will return to normal and we just need to watch China and South Korea to see how things are improving for them after a period of seclusion. Even as they begin to go back to living normal lives, we will see if the virus returns or is contained in these countries. I think we need to be prepared to “shelter in place” for at least a couple of months. It certainly won’t be easy, particularly for the 40% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. Help from Congress can’t come too soon.
I have a few suggestions to get us through this challenging time. 1. Limit your reading or watching of the news. I know that I can be worked up into an anxious tizzy if I read too many coronavirus stories and that is not helping anyone. 2. Go out for a walk, a bike ride, or stay in and do yoga. Focusing on something other than this pandemic helps your mood. 3. Take up something new – write that memoir you have never had time for, learn a new language, take a course on Coursera – they are free! By doing this, you can turn lemons into lemonade as they say and when this is all over, you will have taken something positive away from this experience.
There are lots of opportunities now to help others as well. Donate to a food bank, to local hospitals who are in desperate need of protective equipment and to “Go Fund Me” pages of workers who have lost their jobs. We are a community and we need to come together (virtually) to conquer this and come out on the other side. As my friend, Marva, always says to me, “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger.” Get ready to build some muscles!!
