If you had asked me in December what I’d be doing in May, I wouldn’t have told you “social distancing” or “self-quarantine”. Hell, my plans were birthday party and Poconos vacation. Well birthday will be a quiet affair, and that vacation quickly turned into a “staycation”. It’s hard to make my double wide feel anything like an all-inclusive couples resort.
I’m sure most of us expect this to last quite a while in some form or another, therefore, by the time you read this we’ll….probably still be at home. Countless individuals have celebrated birthdays, graduations, and more in solitude. Many individuals have had to figure out how to survive without work and frustrating unemployment resources. Weddings have been rescheduled, baby deliveries have been missed by loved ones, spouses/family have had to remain separated through illness, and even death, making funerals impossible under the circumstances. I start to tear up a little even just thinking if my husband were to get ill right now, since I wouldn’t be able to visit him. And goodness forbid he passed away? I don’t even want to think of how I would be.
You know what we can all do together? Social distancing or not, we can take a breath. We can take a big healthy inhale through the nose for 4 seconds, we can hold that breath for 4 seconds, and then we can release that breath, and all the negative energies with it, through the mouth for 8 seconds. Shorten that time frame if you need to. This is just a nice, calming breath for you.
Want to know something else we can all do? We can grab a pen and fill in some blanks. Take a moment to breathe, and to focus on nothing else outside of the bubble of these next few sentences. Let go of all the craziness that has been rattling around in your mind for these past few weeks. Just sit back and fill in the blanks with the first thing to come to your mind on each one.
My most welcomed hobby during Stay Home, Stay Safe is ____________________. I find solitude in ____________________. The hardest thing I’ve had to go through in these few weeks is ____________________. With the help of _______________, I’ve been able to get through _______________.
I miss ____________________ from __________________ the most. The first place I’m going when everything opens back up again is ____________________. The first person I’m giving a giant bear-hug to is ____________________.
Now that we’ve taken a moment to breathe, and drop into our little moment, let’s discuss something important that we should really keep in mind when all this blows over: general safety and prevention. Throughout human history, health and livelihood generally increase with better implemented hygiene practices. Just because it’s 2020, doesn’t mean we know everything. I bet you the Cavemen probably thought they were top of the world for learning to take a dump down wind. Romans thought they were tough stuff too but when we look back, we can see the things they did, hygiene wise, that we wouldn’t even consider hygienic or necessarily safe now.
When we all pull through this, we need to take a look at our health and hygiene practices and learn what we can do better. Maybe encouraging more normalcy behind wearing masks if one isn’t feeling 100% when out in public, especially during flu season. Maybe encouraging the frequent cleaning of items such as carts, door handles, etc on a regular basis. Perhaps social distancing in store settings isn’t a bad idea long-term. Maybe everyone carries sanitizer and wipes with them wherever they go. It may not be a bad idea to consider any employees who handle cash, have either gloves or sanitizer to use with every transaction that occurs, or maybe breaks to wash every .5-1 hour. Whatever it is….we can do better.
All of this can tie into our smoking practices as well. If you don’t already wipe down your pieces after each use, now may be a great time to get in the habit. A little alcohol and a paper towel can go a long way. A joint holder is also a very inexpensive way to make sure that as you puff puff pass, it’s not the germs you’re passing. That one joint doesn’t have to physically touch the lips of everyone in the circle for us to all enjoy it.
With any luck, we will also see a push for regular banking within the cannabis industry. Those of us in the industry have been calling for it for quite some time. This plant, that has been deemed essential 100 times faster than we could get it deemed legal in the first place, is still a cash only business. Why? Do you know how much bacteria is transferred around on physical money? There needs to be a better way.
It’s time to start taking our health more seriously. It’s not just us that we need to think about. We are a herd species and whether we like it or not, there are several large “herds” all over our state, and our country. The only way we survive, and I mean really survive, is by protecting and looking after one another.
Since we may see these regulations stretch a little while, we need to try to remember to make the best of it. In this day and age we can still communicate with each other whether it be from across the street, or across thousands of miles. Deliveries are available for all we need, curbside pickup and drive through services have been made available for several industries. There is no doubt that this period of time is difficult, it is not what we have become accustomed to, but we will pull through. We will do better.
Stay high, stay home, and stay safe.
