A cold wet nose in your eye at 7:30 AM. “No, Sash. It’s Sunday. Let me sleep!” Another gentle nose poke in the eye, accompanied by a whine. “It’s time to get up, and get moving, Daddy. Let’s go out and play ball!” That was our dog, Sasha, every morning. When he got older, he developed an evening routine, sitting at the foot of the stairs, looking at us, then looking up the stairs. “It’s time to go to bed!” His reproachful “it’s time for bed” look would do your grandmother proud.
Sasha was reminding us of the importance of routine or rhythm in our lives. The need to create habits that keep us on track, productive, and alive. I’ll venture to say that now in the midst of the Corona virus pandemic, most of us are experiencing major disruption to the rhythm of our lives. And that means that we need to create a new rhythm. Tempting as it may be for some of us to sleep late, skip shower and shaving, hang-out all day in pajamas, and sit on the couch and binge watch TV, it is vitally important that we do not succumb to that temptation.
We need to keep mentally and physically active to avoid falling into malaise, depression, and to stave off premature aging. This pandemic situation could continue for several months. Just moping around for several months will have serious consequences for our health.
Take this time to accomplish things, maybe some things that you always wanted to do, but never made time for. Might I suggest that improving your health be one of those things. Set times during the day for active exercise. Do a morning and afternoon walk. (Here’s the benefit of having a dog like Sasha, who will nag you to get out.) You can do a walk and still keep your social distancing. Set a time for daily meditation. Meditating will help you deal with the mental stress of the current situation.
Even those of us who are working at home still have an opportunity to accomplish more for ourselves. You should have free time if you are no longer commuting to and from work. I hope you won’t feel obliged or compelled to add that time to your work hours.
If you need suggestions on meditation, look at some of my earlier blogs and stay tuned for more.
Be careful, stay well.
Shifu Roger
