Don’t Let Random Become Your New Routine

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We’re living in interesting times, that’s for sure. Things started to change, and before you knew it, everything’s changed. Some people contracted Covid, and some died, but it didn’t always seem like a real threat, to be honest. We kinda got used to it. We ‘settled in’. Then some people we knew personally got Covid, and eventually someone we knew died of it, and then … then it started to sink in … this is real … this is serious.

Living with Covid

wear face maskWe had to change. Society changed. We couldn’t do things the same way anymore, not if we wanted to have any real chance of beating this virus. Kids were kept off school. Arrangements were made for all but essential workers to stay home. Working from home, conducting meetings and collaborations via Zoom and suchlike became a much more usual thing. Whenever we went out, we had to keep a safe distance from each other as much as possible.

And of course, we had to wear masks. It had to become normal to wear a mask whenever we went out and there was a chance we’d interact with each other. And these days will passwhen we got back, the ritual began; doing whatever we could to make sure we’d brought nothing dangerous home and scrubbing our hands vigorously and thoroughly. When we went out, masked up, we walked around like extras in a global pandemic disaster movie, except nobody was calling out “Okay, thanks guys, that’s a wrap”.

And then, as we hit new milestones, such as a thousand deaths in a single day, a million dead worldwide, then two million dead … then there was no escaping the brutal fact that this was very real and we were right in the middle of it. This was most definitely not a drill.

Everything changed

Everything changed. And one of the biggest changes, and potentially one of the most far-reaching, was the fact that our personal routines all changed – slowly at first, but then gathering pace (although mostly unnoticed). It became a continuing struggle to stick to any routines we’d set up over the years, and gradually the old ones were being chipped away at, and the erosion was relentless. And with the breakdown of routines, everything was affected; our productivity and effectiveness were suffering, as well as the very real suffering of those who had succumbed to Covid. One good thing though – we learned a new respect for our front-line heroes, and that group included far more than just doctors and nurses, it encompassed all those who provided  essential services, of all kinds.

NHS Heroes

The time came, and no doubt it came at different points for each of us individually, when we realised that things were crumbling away and we were losing important parts of our lives. And after a while, we realised that the only way to combat this inexorable slide into decay was to build up a new routine. For everything. Because it’s too late now to depend on the old routines, they’re as good as dead, Covid’s seen to that. You won’t see them listed on the news every day, but they’re among the casualties of this disease just as much as the infected and the dead.

New routines are needed

We have to create new routines. We need new routines for every aspect of our lives. Otherwise we stop functioning. Or at least in any recognisable way. As long as we don’t want to keep stumbling along and making no headway, we need routines.

NHS rainbowWe need to put a stop to the almost unnoticed but progressive slide into getting out of bed at later times in the day, and sometimes random times. Our sleep patterns are disturbed, and that’s never a good thing. We need to make sure we’re taking care of our hygiene needs properly too, in fact now more than ever. And we need to make sure we’re taking care of our exercise and fitness requirements.