20200608M-2317 Austin, TX – I spent today going to Terry Black’s Barbecue for lunch and shopping at Whole Foods. I found myself buying food like there was a shelter-in-place order. I don’t remember the last time I spent so much at the grocery store. I have enough nuts and dried fruit to last for at least a few weeks.
Lunch at Black’s BBQ was an experience I haven’t had since the pandemic shelter-in-place rules went into effect. As I ordered, I found myself surprised by the question “Is this order to eat here or to go?” Tables were six feet apart and there was indoor and outdoor seating. The place started to fill up as I ate.
I’m beginning to notice differences in people. There are some people who seem to be from the “no pandemic fear” universe and others who are definitely in the “pandemic fear” universe. It seems that the coronavirus is going to spread as it will. What seems different is how much attention people pay to it and how much they react to it’s spread.
I’m still having a bit of congestion and a mild headache on the right side of my forehead. It comes and goes throughout the day. I’ve been sleeping poorly – like being jet lagged. It’s interesting to me to note that on the day I had decaf coffee instead of caffeinated, I thought I had caffeinated and my Aunt didn’t realize it mattered, so if the universe worked on the “your mind controls your reality” method, then it seems that I would not have gotten a caffeine headache. Likewise, ignoring a novel coronavirus will not prevent one from being infected by it. However, it may affect the bodies response to the infection. If someone is fearful of becoming sick, then that fear itself can weaken the immune system and make it more likely that the get sick if infected.
While I imagined being able to eat at Black’s BBQ by now, I think for most people the fear of the pandemic is going to continue. We are going to enter an interesting time in which life will begin going back to normal while the novel coronavirus is still circulating the globe.
surfing the universe 