Day Fifteen - The One Where I Look for the Positives

Here's  a little teaser to start you off. From the title of today's post do you know which song I listened to this morning on my walk?  No prizes but pop your answer in the comments box!

I've decided to try and make today's post a positive and uplifting one. That's not to diminish the gravity of the situation we're in but I feel at times I've been too negative, dark and critical. Ultimately that's unhelpful.

So what good has come out of this kerfuffle so far? It's made me consider, even more than I was doing already, my overall consumption of goods perishable and non perishable. I did not enter the Panicbuying or Stockpiling Championships. So I have had to be mindful of my toilet paper use. Previously I never gave much thought to how much paper I was using, within reason of course, we're not talking Andrex puppy here, but now every time I think, how much do you really need? So my paper will last longer.  And, of course it's environmentally better. Less for our hardworking sewerage systems to cope with and better for ecology.

  I love coffee. But it has to be ground, filter coffee. Yep, not essential I know but I've bought no new beans since the Crisis. I buy one brand and one brand only because I haven't found another brand that matched the taste. Whilst this situation endures I cannot buy the brand as their stores are closed. I have to eke out my existing supply. So I've reduced my coffee consumption  to one small mug in the morning with breakfast. Reduced caffeine intake is supposed to be better for your health? 

I love strawberries, I eat them every day if I can, full of Vitamin C so very important for immune systems. Whereas I used to eat a whole punnet a day (Don't judge me!) I now have half. Or frozen. I'm not going anywhere near the shops at the moment so I'm reliant on my online deliveries for fresh ones.

 I also try to eat green leaf vegetables every day. I ran out of salad leaves this week and unwilling to risk a supermarket I went foraging in the garden for herbs and edible leaves. I have mint and parsley. Chives and dandelion. I've just read online that violet leaves can be added to a salad and I believe I have some growing so I'll try them too. So....... fresh air, fresh, free food.

Beginning to play through all my CDs systematically. I'm loving it. Some I'd forgotten I had! Many I've not played in a long time. 

I'm almost afraid to give voice to this in case I jinx myself but I've been walking better than I have done for years! That's not say I'm free from pain, no, I hurt and niggle and ache, But the mechanics of my walking are so much better -  freer and easier. If I survive this contagion I fervently hope this state continues. I can only conclude that it is my daily 30/40 minute walk that has done it. So I hope I can carry on.

Oh gosh, so far this has all been about me. Let's look wider.

 Families? Spending unprecedented amounts of time together because of school closures and working from home. Parents home schooling and realising what a fantastic and demanding job teachers do. There have been lots of online initiatives to help parents with homeschooling from lesson plans to workouts. People not having to be here, there and everywhere, time to talk, time to listen, time to get to know each other again. 

Friends? People reaching out to those who they may not connect with as regularly as they could or should. 

Neighbours? Checking that everyone is okay whereas 'normally' folk would go about their business maybe not seeing their neighbours from one week to the next.

I wrote yesterday of a hopeful retreat from materialism. There's a great potential for that as people start to think about what is really important and what isn't. Wouldn't it be fantastic if out of the flames of this conflagration a phoenix rises for a population more caring, more considerate, more united than they were before.

Here ends today's positive post. I'll be back to bitching and moaning tomorrow probably!!!