New Normal: A Week After SF Shelters in Place

It’s been just over a week since San Francisco’s official mandate for its residents to shelter in place to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections. Since then, it seems like a million more things have happened, from frightening reports of exponential growth of cases around the world to stock market roller coaster rides to the Summer Olympics getting postponed to 2021. What an insanely crazy time in human history! I don’t even know where to begin.

As if macro events weren’t enough, many of us have had to balance that with an entirely new way of living – doing our part by staying in, working from home, socializing remotely, keeping our kids (and ourselves) sane, or even dealing with the stress of job insecurity. This can never compare to what the greatest past generations went through, but it’s definitely not a walk in the park.

In light of all this, SF is doing an amazing job. Sure, there are still the willfully ignorant out there, with their heads stuck in the sand while hanging on to the final threads of a world that will never be quite the same. But for the most part, I’ve seen the streets empty and folks doing their part by staying home except for the two E’s – exercise and essentials. I feel like I just need to affirm y’all. We’re doing our best, and as we get the hang of the new normal, we’ll continue to do even better.

The Turning Point

Having a very concerned mother, I already knew about the developing COVID-19 crisis weeks before it blew up in the US. Being the stubborn, risk-tolerant individual that I am, I brushed it off as an overly conservative response to something that could very well be contained like past international epidemics.

The turning point for me was when NBA star Rudy Gobert and other famous athletes and celebrities started announcing positive test results. It was a visceral realization that (a) this virus was more contagious than I’d initially thought, and (b) it was possible to be asymptomatic or have minor symptoms, especially if you were young and/or healthy.

You see, I wasn’t very in-tune with the COVID-19 situation, because I’d written it off as something a bit worse than the flu, more worrisome for high-risk groups and soon to be under control as governments quarantined the infected. Along with the Gobert news and the announcement that the NBA was suspending its season immediately and indefinitely, I knew then and there that this was a lot more serious than it had seemed.

Then came more info about how hospitals were not equipped to treat the volume of the worst cases and that an effective way to combat this was by flattening the curve – self-quarantining to slow the spread of the virus so people that needed hospital beds and ventilators could have one and not die. This suddenly became much bigger than me, along with my desires to be out and about. For me, it was never the fear of getting sick, but now it was the legitimate fear of being responsible for other people’s sickness and demise.

If you’re reading this, you probably know all this, so let’s move on to the next part – how I’ve been living life in this new world since.

Shelter in Place Life

The first week of sheltering in place was a mix of emotional highs and lows. I grieved a bit, accepted the new normal, and did my best to move on with life. There was that one night where I’m pretty sure I had a panic attack. But there were more nights where I laughed with friends in virtual Zoom sessions. And there were countless nights of good music, movies, shows, and books in between. I’ll be okay, and I know you all will be, too.

The first adjustment I made was coming up with a new routine. Even if I was in my apartment all day, I wanted to ground things as the first step to staying sane. I’d wake up, eat my normal breakfast, log into work and work at my desk until lunch. Then I’d eat my normal lunch, do some more work in the dining area in the afternoon, take a power nap, do some bodyweight exercises, and then go for a jog around the neighborhood. At night, I’d make my own dinner or order something on DoorDash, then move on to one of my interests – currently that includes watching the classic anime series Cowboy Bebop, learning the basics of DJ mixing, and lots of reading and catching up on movies.

Which leads me to the next adjustment. I decided to pick up some hobbies that I’d put on the backburner for a while now. If you’ve followed this blog, you may remember I’d mentioned a couple years back that I wanted to learn some new skills, including DJ mixing and cocktail making. Well, I’m definitely doing those two things now. I’ve also taken up running again, since my community pool is closed. These have really provided some structure and lots of joy as I track my progress and just enjoy the process.

To make things better, my emptied-out calendar has slowly been filled with virtual hangouts, planning sessions for community and volunteer groups, and even virtual physical therapy sessions (had my first virtual session today – maybe the background for that will be a story for another time).

Slowing Down

With all the developing events and activities, I still need to take a step back. At various points in my life, I’d pined for the slow life – a mindful way to experience life at the right pace, not the fastest pace. You can read about some of this in my post What Cantonese Movies & McDonald’s Taught Me About Slow Living. Of all moments, now is really the best time to practice this concept, and I have to remind myself that even this period in life is still part of a longer marathon.

If I’m honest with myself, a lot of the activities I’ve taken up were a direct response to losing my supposed freedom and ability to do things in society. If I couldn’t attend this social dinner, or that volunteer event, or an upcoming trip, then I needed to fill that with other self-improving activities at home. It’s as much a coping mechanism as it is a desire to have meaning.

The key is balancing it out. I don’t need to be able to run a marathon after this. I don’t need to be a professional DJ or the next big movie critic (sadly looking more like a thing of the past anyway). I just need to enjoy what I’m doing in the here and now, while staying sane and happy. So I’ll continue to work on this, and give myself the permission to just do nothing, too.

From Here on Out

No matter how much control we think we have in our lives, there are many things that are beyond our control. That’s a truth I’m working to accept every single day. With the situation changing by the minute, the best I can manage now is to continue to do my part in staying put, staying busy (but not too busy), and encouraging others in community.

I’m still working on making my footprint as minimal as possible – reducing the risk that I get the virus and pass it on to others. As each day passes, I’m more ok with this and I hope that we see positive results sooner rather than later. As I sort through this on a personal level, I hope that I can do more in the coming weeks in looking outward and lending a helping hand. I have some leads and ideas, so hopefully there will be some progress if I decide to write another update soon.

For the time being, stay safe and healthy, everyone! My social media feeds blew up today with a beautiful rainbow over SF after a light rain shower. It brought a smile to my face and reminded me that things will be ok. We’ll get through this together!