Losing A Little, Finding A Lot

Summary: This has been quite a week and for many Americans, the effects of unprecedented snowfall in places where snow doesn’t normally fall are going to linger for some time to come. Where there hasn’t been snow, there have been thunderstorms and tornadoes. Extreme weather has taken a heavy toll on us at a time when we already didn’t have much tethering us to reality. We were hitting a <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-pandemic-wall-mental-health_l_601b3c9dc5b6c0af54d09ccb?">collective pandemic wall</a> before all the weather fell on top of us. Our stress systems are frayed and growing uncertainty around health and finances only makes that situation worse. Remember when we could just hop on a plane in mid-February and spend Mardi Gras or Spring Break somewhere on a warm beach, like Galveston? Oh, wait, Galveston has snow all the way to the water’s edge. Okay, <a href="https://www.southwest.com/">Southwest Airlines</a> to the rescue. You can catch a flight out of your current hell for as low as $50 each way. Hold it, that rate requires 21-day advance purchase and the only destination where the $50 rate actually applies is St. Louis, which is currently under more snow than they’ll remove before May. So, maybe that won’t work after all. A lot of the options for mid-winter getaways simply aren’t available to us at the moment and when we’ve already canceled trips and vacations for the past year, our need for a break grows stronger with each passing week. How much longer can we tolerate this seclusion? Even going down to the local pub for socially-distanced drinks with friends grows increasingly difficult as <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/dining/restaurants/2021/02/09/indianapolis-restaurant-closures-claddagh-downtown-custom-bar-sale/4456378001/">bars and restaurants continue to close</a>. What’s not helping is that in this new work-from-home (WFH) environment that everyone was sort-of cheering a year ago, we’re working more than ever. WFH has increased our daily work schedule by an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/05/business/working-from-home-hours-pandemic-scli-intl-gbr/index.html">average of 2.5 hours</a> per day. So, even if you were one of the lucky ones who was only working 40 hours a week before this mess started, you’re probably working closer to 50 now, and for those in many salaried positions that were demanding long hours before, it’s grown from 60 to 70 hours. Of course, there are still plenty of people who have no jobs at all or their work is severely curtailed. Many people in the service industry who enjoyed full schedules previously do well to get in 20 hours of work each week now and are struggling to pay bills. When storms hit like they did this week, their schedules get obliterated. People who were already scheduled don’t easily push their services down by a day or two, they’ll put it off a week or more, dramatically reducing what was already fragile income. As a nation, we are exhausted. We still haven’t recovered from the emotional abuse of last year’s presidential election and now we’re having to deal with a life-threatening cold snap for which many parts of the country are not equipped. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/27/health/insomnia-sleep-problems-pandemic-wellness/index.html">We’re not sleeping well</a>. <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210114/COVID-19-pandemic-negatively-impacts-eating-behaviors.aspx">We’re not eating well</a>. For many, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/202010/the-pandemic-is-harming-relationships-is-yours-risk">relationships have gone down the toilet</a>. Then, extreme weather raises its ugly head and we all get a magnificent pile of snow and subfreezing temperatures. Isn’t life grand?

Losing A Little, Finding A Lot

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