OLD HABITS

May 4, 2020, Monday.

We've been sheltering in place for nearly seven weeks now. Our daily routines have not changed whole lot, but my body and my mind still slip over into their former ways.

Before the pandemic we attended a church service each Sunday at 10:30 am. It lasted until about 11:45 am, and was followed by a coffee hour that was substantial enough to serve as a light lunch. Now we are attending a church service via Zoom. It begins at 9:30 am, and ends about 10:15 am. I normally do not snack in mid-morning, but on Sundays after church I feel the need for a cookie and a cup of something hot to drink. Somehow, my stomach knows that it usually gets fed after church.

It's the same thing when I plan errands. I'm not going out much now: drive-though trips to the bank, the post office, and the drug store. I do go in person (with mask and rubber gloves) to the grocery store once a week, and very occasionally to the drug store or the hardware store. In the past, I had classes and meetings at church two or three times a week, and I often combined these trips to church with other errands. I'd plan the timing of my trip accordingly and I find myself still thinking in those terms: If I want to stop at the hardware store on the way to church, I'll need to leave the house a half hour earlier. Then I realize I won't be leaving the house to go to church.

There's one good habit that is still useful. As soon as we got home from church, my husband always carried out the trash for the early Monday morning collection. Now, as soon as he leaves the Zoom meeting, he carries out the trash.

These old habits die hard. It must be very disorienting for other people who were used to going to work, commuting long distances, shuttling kids here and there. Do they suddenly remember that they need to leave for a music lesson, then realize, wait, we're not taking music lessons right now. Do they find that their bodies and their appetites are still imprinted with the old schedule? When/if the pandemic comes to an end, will we have trouble reverting to the old habits, or will we find ourselves confronted with a new normal?