Good morning friends, it’s good to be back with you after an unanticipated, yet necessary, hiatus. For those that don’t know, I tested positive for Covid-19 a week ago Saturday and ended up spending Easter through my birthday sick in bed and isolated from friends and family. Currently I am out of quarantine but still nowhere near 100% as I struggle to speak without coughing and I feel like I am constantly fighting fatigue. I am however doing much better than I was a week ago so the blog is back on and I thought I would kick things off with a two part post listing some of the lessons that I learned after having Covid-19 and being quarantined.
LESSON #1 – Covid Isn’t As Fun As The Kids Make It Out To Be
Seriously folks, Covid kicked my butt. It reminded me of when I came down with the Swine Flu, not once but twice, over a decade ago. That seemed worse because I had a bad fever, and I haven’t had one since, but with Covid I did experience waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to breathe—and this was before the coughing began.
I hadn’t felt well for a while but since Sheryl had had Covid herself right before Spring Break I had been cautious and was tested six times over 12 days and they all came back negative, including earlier in the day before The Good Friday Service. It was that night however that I woke up choking, which I blamed on reflux, and the next day after attending a funeral and not feeling well that I decided to take Test #7 prior to going to church and my in-laws the next day for Easter. For this I used a home test and it took all of 20 sec. before both lines shown clearly. I immediately started self-quarantining and my journey began.
LESSON #2 – Even In Isolation It’s Hard To Just “Be” And Not “Do”
It’s hard to turn off the world even when you are sick and all by yourself. As much as I stopped doing a lot of things (i.e. visiting with patients, counseling with clients, having coffee with friends, leaving my bedroom…) I still had a few little devices that “allowed” me to stay up to date with things whether I wanted to or not. From needing to be on social media because I was in the middle of a much needed fundraising effort (Praise God I reached my goal of $4,800 by the time I turned 48!!!) to receiving counseling requests via text late at night when I was trying to sleep, the world did stop spinning nor did my mind. This was a wake up call for me to develop better habits and better boundaries when it comes to having tech always on whether I’m sick or not.
LESSON #3 – Always Multi-Tasking Isn’t Always Good
For better or worse I am a multitasker—not because I think it is a more efficient or effective way to get things done but because my ADHD riddled brain gets bored if I’m not doing at least three things at once. That being said, Covid brain made me slow down and multitasking was near impossible. The other day I laid in bed and read an old fashioned paper and print book from cover to cover in one sitting. No tv on in the background. No reading on the same screen where I get pop up notifications non-stop. No thinking of five other things I could be doing and setting the book down never to be picked up again. No, I read it, enjoyed it, and was inspired by it. In case you are wondering it was The Dream King by Will Ford & Matt Lockett who will be speaking at a number of events this week sponsored by PACT. This is another benefit of having better boundaries with my devices… FOCUS.
LESSON #4 – I Get Why Jesus Only Stayed In The Tomb For 3 Days
Ok, let me preface this by saying that I am only kidding around by comparing Jesus’ being buried with me being quarantined. I think God has a sense of humor and he certainly made me with one. For example, at The Good Friday Service another pastor and I carried a large wooden cross into the sanctuary and when we were placing it on stage I got a splinter from it. When returning to our seats I showed him my wound and whispered, “Now I really understand Jesus’ suffering.” I laughed. He laughed. I came down with Covid the next day. 😳
On second thought maybe I should cool it with the jokes and just get to the point which is that, for an extreme extrovert with physical touch being high up on his list of Love Languages, being by myself without anyone to talk to or touch was downright depressing. My wife would bring me food and drink but the rest of the family stayed as far away as possible so as to avoid any germs. Even though Sheryl had just had it herself a couple weeks prior she avoided getting close to me so as to not carry any of my germs back to the kids or her class. All necessary but also depressing. Even the cats, who never left Sheryl’s side when she was in bed, wouldn’t venture into the room with me. To say that being quarantined was at least as bad, if not worse, than the actually illness would not be an exaggeration. It really made me feel that much more for the people in the hospitals and nursing homes during the height of Covid who had to suffer through so much while not being allowed to have loved ones by their side. Needless to say, as soon as I am sure I will not cough in your face as a result you will all being getting a big hug from me the next time I see you—whether you want one or not. 😉
These were just some of the lessons I learned. Come back tomorrow and read about a few more. SPOILER ALERT!!! They are all positive! 😇
Refill with Randy 