Can Anyone Tell Me What Day This Is?

I will not eat ice cream seven nights a week. I will not eat ice cream seven nights a week. I will not eat ice cream seven nights a week.

Being cooped up and deprived of social contact reminds me how easy it is to seek comfort in the wrong places. Especially when anxiety moves in as your roommate.

Of course, every time we turn around, some newly designated “expert” is there to educate us about healthy coping mechanisms. I have ignored most of this advice in favor of trusting my intuition. Amid the continuing Covid restrictions, I offer the following catalogue of positives.

Better Than Binge-Watching:
•Master a skill. I finally learned how to cook perfect scrambled eggs. (Thanks, World Wide Web.)

•Rediscover a favorite pastime. I’ve started sewing again.

•Write a real letter. Short personal notes to people I miss yield a two-way benefit.

•Take extra walks. Officials in Paris have banned outdoor exercise as “too dangerous.” Sacré bleu! What’s dangerous is outlawing this natural cure for Four Walls Fever.

•Watch Donna Reed Show reruns. Immersing ourselves in a more wholesome and uplifting television era is immensely restorative.

•Refocus on the Creator. The frightening reality of unprecedented government control over our daily movements and our nation’s future is a jolting reminder that God maintains ultimate control of our individual destinies.

Blessings:
•A striking renewal of appreciation for everyday gifts—church services, extended family dinners, lunch with a friend, hugs.

•Clearing out an over-filled freezer. I somehow accumulated enough ground beef for a Texas-style cook-off! (Chili, anyone?)

•A shrinking to-do list. I finally shampooed my carpets last weekend. (Now, to convince my urpy cat that he’s not required to re-adorn them.)

•Greeting friendly faces on those extra neighborhood walks.

•A tank of gas that lasts for weeks. And weeks. And weeks.

•Learning new words, like sitzfleisch, from the German buttocks flesh. A fellow lexophile, Mark, explains: “The term has morphed…to mean the ability to… sit still for periods of great duration.” He adds, “During these days of quarantine…our ‘sitzfleisch’ (patience, sitting-endurance) may be seriously tested.”

•Seeing celebrities cited for their charitable acts. This serves to underscore the good deeds of regular folks—truly inspiring since they operate from more meager means.

•Home schooling for all. Parents get an in-depth look at what their kids are being taught. Even better, they have the opportunity to ensure that their values are respectfully represented.

•Newfound admiration for heroes like first responders, medical professionals, and folks across the supply chain of groceries and other essential goods.

•Retailers who find safe, creative ways of selling their wares—to the benefit of both buyers and vendors.

Confinement remains a challenge as the debate over economic collapse versus health risks rages on. So, as one day melds into another and a primal scream threatens to escape from my gullet, I revisit an online devotion from my pastor, then I pull out the above lists.

But be forewarned: If one more Hollywood celebrity smiles out at me from their fully staffed multimillion-dollar mansion to remind me we’re all in this together, I may just indulge in that scream. Or else go for the ice cream.