Posted on 03/24/2020 10:14:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Since we are all stuck at home for weeks, here are some suggestions to help you and help America.
Watch less news. Interview and opinion shows on TV and talk radio shows that add to one's understanding of the situation can be valuable. But watching depressing, panic-inducing news about COVID-19 24/7 will only make you jittery, anxious and depressed. It's good for the news networks' ratings, but it's bad for your mental health.
Instead, you can read, talk to friends, watch movies, learn a language, listen to music, start a journal, walk outside, garden or engage in hobbies. Do that project you've never had time to get to. In short, don't preoccupy yourself with the virus. My wife and I watched a James Bond movie a few nights ago, and I loved the total escape it provided. And I'm getting more work done on the third volume of my Torah commentary ("The Rational Bible") than I could have under normal circumstances.
Make sure to stay in touch via phone or video with anyone you know to be alone. For such people, social isolation is close to being in solitary confinement. After two weeks of you and them remaining asymptomatic, I would also suggest visiting such people or having them visit you. Being alone for weeks is likely to be much more hazardous to a person's health than the relatively small possibility of contracting, let alone dying from, the new coronavirus.
Decide to be happy. As Lincoln said, "We are as happy as we decide to be." You owe it to those living under house arrest with you -- in fact, you are morally obligated -- to be as easy to live with as possible during this miserable time. Calibrating your mood now, when it's tough, will set a great example for your family that could pay big dividends in the future. I could imagine your kids saying decades hence, "Remember how our parent(s) stayed upbeat during the coronavirus scare?" What a wonderful legacy that would be.
If you have kids at home -- from as early as fifth grade through graduate school -- watch PragerU videos with them. They are all just five minutes long, highly educational and very entertaining. Professors from major universities of the Western world, four Pulitzer Prize winners, three former prime ministers and some of the finest minds in the world offer these courses. There are 400 such videos. They will engender spirited discussion and take your mind off the virus and quarantine. They are all free, so I have no hesitation recommending something I am affiliated with.
Order as many meals as possible from local restaurants. Most Americans will get their food from supermarkets. If you can afford it -- and I suspect most readers of this column can -- try to get most of your meals from a local restaurant through takeout orders. We need to do everything possible to keep local restaurants in business.
Order online items. During this quarantine, Americans are purchasing more and more items through the internet. Try to order from vendors other than Amazon as much as possible. The purpose is not to hurt Amazon; Amazon is a remarkable company. The purpose is to keep as many internet vendors in business as possible. It takes only an additional minute or two to order from another site.
Don't look to food for too much comfort. As it is, most people will be moving around far less than normal. When that is added to a lot of junk food, the results will not be pretty. It's been reported that sales of cookies and chips have gone up significantly in the last few weeks. The last thing you want to do now is weaken your immune system. Eat as healthy as you can. Getting some exercise is also important. Going for a walk every day is a good place to start.
King Solomon, the story goes, asked his wise men (in the ancient world, they emphasized wisdom; people today emphasize knowledge) to make him a magic ring. This ring would lift up his spirits if he got depressed and bring him back down to earth if he got euphoric. The wise men returned with a ring in which the Hebrew words "gam zu ya'avor" were inscribed: "This, too, shall pass." Keep in mind that this awful period will pass. The human psyche is programmed to think that whatever is happening now -- happy or sad -- will go on indefinitely.
Nothing does.
Liberal anti-American agenda does. THAT will never change
Bookmark
I haven’t changed a thing. I’ve got plenty of board games and food.
- Welded zombie bumpers on the Subaru keeping “Coexist” bumper sticker visible
- Cleared fields of fire
- Working on making toilet paper out of rendered and pressing pine needles
“Drinking some wine and eating some cheese and catching a few rays, you know.” - Oddball, World’s Greatest Tanker
Ranch Doritos and Chinese take out, both can be eaten while standing, vs sitting. Ain’t that healthy?
I also have a big collection of CD music to enjoy when I chose to.
I stand in the doorway while I smoke my two or three Marlboro Menthols during the day.
That’s also when I
get my dose of Sunshine.
Make babies.
God fearing, America loving babies.
We have a treadmill and weights. I’ve been getting plenty of exercise without leaving the house.
Submitted for you listening pleasure, a little medley.
Stress & anxiety are immune suppressors. Eat healthy, exercise, sleep, turn off the devices, pray, and relax. (Oh, and clean your room while you’re at it!)
My house is clean, realllly clean. If the wind isn’t blowing tomorrow my car will be clean and after that my storeroom.
Living rurally we have driven up to the foothills of the mountains to see the abundant spring wildflowers and went fishing on Saturday.
I’m cooking a lot of good things, we’re going to get fat.
I am also thinking of sectors of business that need help, like apparel and making orders. I’m seriously thinking of encouraging my husband to buy a new PU with 5 years 0% interest, he would love that.
Can’t believe more people aren’t out digging and planting a food garden. Good time to get back to basics and learn some old school skills. Learn to bake bread, or get a bread machine. If you don’t have a yard, maybe a potted garden on a balcony.
Sorry P.O.E., I thought I was replying to Kaslin’s post.
I’m not really doing anything different.
I get my baseball fix from Fox Sports midwest replaying games from last season. They are also re-airing Blues games.
KMOX started yesterday re-airing the radio games from Aug 25th 2011 and will finish in May with Game 7 of the 2011 World Series. This is also available for their Radio.com listeners. I don’t have the app but just use the browser on my tablets.
A good time to go through those boxes of photos and organizing them. Writing on the back who is in them and where/when they were taken. Even estimates or intelligent guesses are better than nothing.
Also if you have a printer/scanner you can scan them and make copies on thumb drive for family.
Definitely something productive future generations of your family might appreciate. And you probably otherwise might never get around to it.
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