Helping you cope with lockdown and social distancing

Surviving ‘Lockdown’

A Bedouin was once asked his secret to crossing the hostile desert. The weather-beaten nomadic took a smooth stone from his pocket, threw it a short distance, then walked to it. He picked it up, threw it another short distance, and walked to it again.

“This is how,” he said. “One short distance at a time.”

Bedouin’s also know what to prepare for these journeys. They’re also guided by the sun and the stars and they know where to find water.

This should be our approach, day-by-day, living with COVID-19.

One day at a time.

But we also need to be prepared. Not only with food and toilet paper. We need to prepare and plan daily activities (especially if you have children), we need to follow the advice of social distancing and hand washing, and prepare physically, mentally and emotionally for tougher times to come.

Preparing physically. Only the healthiest and the toughest will get through this. The rich, privileged and politically powerful will not be spared, neither will the poor and disadvantaged. While we’re all in this together, it’s up to individuals to take responsibility for their own health and the survival of their families.

1.       You need a good immune system. Eat (ideally raw) seasonal fruit and vegetables. Stop ordering take-aways.

2.       You need healthy lungs. Stop smoking and do daily breathing exercises.

3.       You need energy. Don’t lounge around in bed or mooch on the couch. Do stuff – clean, exercise (even if it’s only on the patio), go for walks where you’re allowed to.

4.       You need a clear head. Pray before you say or do anything.

5.       To avoid depression and ‘cabin fever’ start a hobby. Do an online course e.g. learn another language. If you clean out your cupboards, you’ll find something to do.

Your medicine cupboard needs more than condoms and cotton wool balls. You’ll need an anti-pyrexial (to reduce fever e.g. Panado or Calpol for children), bronchodilators (these help you breathe – Vicks VapoRub is an ideal OTC standby) a thermometer and cough mixture. Here’s my own recommended home-made remedy. You’ll need an onion and honey. Slice the onion, pour honey over it and leave this to stand overnight. Pour the juice off the next morning and use it during the day. One teaspoonful at a time (PRN – when needed). It’s always worked for our family.

Finally, focus on the positive. Here in South Africa, I’ve heard that notorious gangster mobs in the Western Cape has turned to distribute food parcels instead of waging war on their rivals, Spaza shops in townships are supplying their neighbourhoods with basic foodstuffs. Broken families are reconciling, enemies are calling a truce, churches are you-tubing services. While people have had to stop reaching out physically, we’re connecting spiritually and emotionally.

And that’s good. 
(Picture: 'Unsplash')   

A whole new world

When the world stopped smiling

Have you noticed that when people wear a mask, they stop smiling? Keeping our distance is foreign to us. It’s hostile. This nasty little virus (COVID-19) has succeeded in making international enemies, presidents to bump heads and make rash decisions. It’s drained the economy and the International Monitory Fund and, during the first round, brought out the worst in us …. hogging all the toilet paper…. shame on us.

Like a raging fire, out of control, this virus quickly spread across the globe.

Somehow, somewhere, from this devastation, little messages of hope are emerging. Nature is getting a chance to recover. The sky is no longer rumbling with crisscrossing airlines, highways are sedated, people are waiting for their turn. We’re learning to minimise and make-do with what we’ve got. We’re realising that health-care providers are human after all, and many have put their own safety on hold to care for strangers. Many have succumbed to the virus.

It’s been a very different Lent, and it will be a very different Easter. For a change, we can turn to the suffering of thousands who have been victims of this pandemic. We can pray for their families and their protection. We can pray for our leaders to make wise and informed decisions before leading their people astray.

During this quiet time, I’ve had the chance to look through family photo albums and thank My Maker for the wonderful opportunities I’ve had in my life. My incredible family and wonderful friends. I’ve re-read anthologies I’ve written over the last 40 years about books I’ve enjoyed, with interesting quotations. Diaries, letters, articles I have penned over the years.

Like green shoots that push their way through charred forests after devastating fires, and lives that are pieced together after families once lost everything they owned, the world will recover. It will take time and more than a vaccine. It will mean making sacrifices, working hard, learning to give and not always to take, to give back, and yes, to pray. Quite simply and without religious paraphernalia. A simple prayer between you and Your Maker is all that takes.

Try it sometime.

Picture from alamy.com