In these days of COVID-19: In the Unknown Conscientious Connection Matters Even More

These are unsettling, rapidly changing times for us all. It's hard to imagine the future when so much is genuinely urgent and important now. Still I find it helpful and realistically hopeful to cast an eye head to what could be when this current season passes; to meet the reality and plan for the future with compassion, possibility and a level head. My public health degree and 25+ years of working in and with healthcare frame this perspective. 

What will happen as our individual practices, families, communities, places of work and workshop adapt to this evolving new realties is unknown. Here is what I do know.

Taking care of you and yours is first is foremost. There are many resources to help, like the CDC, and this article on keeping a clear head, and this article on How to Reassure Your Team When The News Is Scary.

Fostering a sense of community and human connection is exquisitely important when there is a crisis. Social distancing makes this harder. Fear makes this harder. Uncertainty makes it harder. But when that human connection is kept, it is sweeter than ever.  

I find myself reflecting on my years working in the with HIV positive individuals, their families and friends. In early 1990’s it was easy to shun, stay away, blame, retreat and over time we learned more, touch returned, and communities held themselves together. People laughed, cried and loved. And grew deeper in support of each other. We did what we could, focused on the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy for ourselves and others. The transition experience from pre “HIV as a terrifying new disease” to post “HIV is here to stay” was messy, but the mending and growth was ultimately beautiful. As I write this it sounds trite and dangerously close to cavalier to my own ears, and I don’t know another way to adequately describe the experience. The acute will pass, we will adapt, and new reality will be and with it, new possibilities for us to shape.

Finally, like you, I am contenting with schedule changes, social distancing measures, concerns about what impact this will have on the economy, and my own healthy dose of perspective taking. In that spirit I offer this poem by Mary Oliver.

It is a serious thing

Just to be alive

On this fresh morning

In the broken world.

- Mary Oliver

Be well, be compassionate and be wise, especially in these days of COVID-19.

I look forward to remaining connected while we help flatten the curve.