By Jackie Deal
Such a strange sensation! Really weird. Explanation? Okay. I self-quarantined for a short time and the effects were surprising. You see, a young man, let’s call him John, tested positive for corona virus. I had
been in a meeting (outside the park) with him, masks: sorta, six feet apart: almost. I was advised that the tests were “preliminary” and often gave false positives and that he was having further tests. Quarantining was left up to me.
After some soul searching I decided that there were people in this park I didn’t want to expose. I wasn’t overly fearful: I have no underlying conditions and I think my immune system is in pretty good shape. (How do we know?) BUT! I resolved to quarantine, isolate, sequester, call it what you will; it’s the same. Two weeks if necessary.
The first day, the very first day, it hit me. I sat back with my morning coffee and thought “Oh, Goodie, I have a day all to myself (14 of them to be exact); what am I going to do??
Huh? I dunno. Well then, what do I want to do? I dunno. Okay, Let’s start with, what day is this? I dunno. It seems that without a daily schedule I was lost. Lost. Lost is not a nice feeling. There was no incentive, no push. No gotta do this so I can do that next. Gotta do it today ’cuz tomorrow…..
Realization: I define myself not by what I am but by what I do. Abraham Maslow and other more modern psychologists (more modern than Freud) would say “Oh, woe, you must be all that you can be and not be what you do.” Maslow’s term was “self-actualize”. When our basic needs are taken care of we should be free to be all that we can be. Yah, Okay, I’m working on it.
The “rest of the story”? After one day of quarantining I got the good news that John’s next test was negative: it did NOT show corona virus. Whoopie!! I’m back in circulation but with a new respect for “contacts” who must isolate. And maybe, perhaps, just a little more self-awareness.
