7 Lessons Learned from the Coronavirus Pandemic

 

 

1. Family Matters More Than We Realized        Need I say more?

 

2. We have Unleashed a Revolution in Medicine

“One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from COVID is that the scientific community working together can do some pretty amazing things.”

—John Cooke, M.D., medical director of the RNA Therapeutics Program at Houston Methodist Hospital’s DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center

Vaccine Vial: Getty Images

 

3. Self-Care is Not Self-Indulgence

The Adage “Age is Just a Number” has taken on New Meaning  “This isn’t just about the pandemic. Your health is directly related to lifestyle — nutrition, physical activity, a healthy weight and restorative sleep.”

—Jacob Mirsky, M.D., primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital Revere HealthCare Center and an instructor at Harvard Medical School

Host demonstrates a technique for relieving neck/shoulder pain

 

4. Technology has Pushed Us into a New Way of Living

Zoom Meetups have substituted for face-to-face encounters. Face-time with friends, relatives, and family members are fine, but they come with virtual hugs, lacking the tactile quality we all need to stay emotionally healthy.

Writers ZOOM meet-up

 

 

5. Crowds may Return, but We Will Gather Carefully

Not quite the Bobbsey Twins, Helen and Brenda, Southern Lady Friends at Sweetwater Pavilion, 2020

 

6. Loneliness Hurts Health More than we Thought

“What we’ve learned from COVID is that isolation is everyone’s problem. It doesn’t just happen to older adults; it happens to us all.”

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University

Author friend Susan Weidener writes about the toll isolation takes on our souls but finds hope for the future in “The Dream Catcher.” Her work in progress is titled A Woman Alone.

 

7. When Your World Gets Small, Nature Lets You Live Large  (Condensed from the AARP Bulletin, March 4, 2021)

“Earth laughs in flowers.”     ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Ornamental Pear Blossoms in our back yard

 

 

Braided branch at University of North Florida, Goldenrod Nature Trail

 

Birds have made a nest in a begonia basket in our back yard – off the ground, away from predators, delicate watering operation so as not to disturb the birdies!

 

 

 

 


Which items stood out in this list of seven?

What point would you add?

How have you ventured out?

 

Coming next: Between Heaven and Mirth: Where Fun is always ON!