I was an early self-isolator. The fuel gauge on my truck hardly moved for 8 weeks. Last Saturday I cautiously ventured out for dinner. I chose a restaurant I had frequented often in the past. I was nervous and concerned, armed with a face mask, and hand sanitizer.
Social distancing guidelines were in place starting with the lines on the sidewalk leading up to the outdoor reception area. Vehicles in the parking lot, which was only 1/3 full, were spaced out with lots of people in the back of the lot.
The wait for seating (outdoor) was longer than I wanted so I went back to the truck and ordered takeout online. I picked a meal I had many times before and was comfortable with. I returned home to eat and marveled at how good the food tasted.
Sunday morning my stomach was not happy with the meal at all. I had the meal many times before but my stomach was no longer tolerating the spices as it had in the past. This surprised me.
Tuesday I returned to the same restaurant with a friend and this time we could be seated anywhere and there were lots of options. The place, usually crowded in the past, was very empty. Social distancing guidelines were being followed. The wait staff were all wearing masks and gloves. The table was missing the usual items like napkins and spices. It was totally bare and devoid of character. The menus were small and made of paper to be destroyed after we used them.
The wait staff was clearly uncomfortable. Their masks were not crisp, clean, and neat like the medical people model. It was difficult to hear and understand them through the masks. The gloves had obviously been on their hands for quite some time. The noise from the traffic was louder than I remembered. Then I realized the lack of noise from inside the restaurant made the outside seem louder.
As we left the restaurant, people moved off both sides of the sidewalk onto the grass to give each other space as they passed. There was a constant feeling of caution and mild tension. This time my body accepted the mild, spicy food which does not taste quite as good as I remember. Hummm…
The experience was not what I expected. It is the new normal and I need to adjust. I need to get back out there. Isolation decreased my tolerance for spicy food. Maybe good, maybe bad, I don’t know. But isolation has also made me less trusting of other people and more cautious and aware of my every move. It has also decreased my fitness and health and makes me hypervigilant and tense in situations that were so relaxing and calming in the past. The isolation has decreased my natural immunity too and that is very concerning.
I am not alone. People are cautiously and slowly coming out of isolation and they need to for many more reasons that I describe here. We need to learn and accept the new normal. People are not automatically opening up and going back to behaviors and gatherings that were habitual a few months ago. They are being responsible.
Don’t jump to a conclusion and believe some reporter that predicts a doomsday scenario and leads you to believe our curve is going straight up right now. Refer to my previous link and you will see that we opened on April 20 and are remaining flat as of today. (Link source is here.)
The Governor, when opening the State, reminded us that the world is watching and we need to show the world that it can be done correctly. As of today, I think we are doing pretty well.
In the meantime, I have put “safely hugging a stranger” on my bucket list. 🙂
