I feel fortunate to be hol(d)ing up just fine in The Lucky Penny these days!
“How are you holding up?” it’s a question I’ve been getting a lot lately. And a question I’ve been asking a lot lately. Even of perfect strangers: the checker at the grocery store, the person I’m video chatting with for tech support, the neighbor at the end of the block sitting on their porch.
This used to be a question reserved for intimates. Now it’s the follow up to an introduction.
And there are a variety of responses, but the answer is usually “hanging in there.” That’s what we’re all doing (or at least trying to do) right now. By holing up in our homes we’re trying to hold up our spirits and our health.
It has me thinking of how we’ve had another shift in our standard greetings within my lifetime. People used to ask “How are you?” (or an equivalent variation: “How’s it going?” or just “‘Sup?”) And the typical answer was “fine.” Even if we weren’t. And then at some point it shifted. The standard response became “busy.” We were all busy. Super busy. Crazy busy. Sometimes Stupid Busy.
Of course, for some people that old version of “busy” seems laughable now. Some people are busier than they’ve ever been. Parents who are working and homeschooling AND trying to care for THEIR parents. Small business owners and freelancers who are scrambling to reinvent their companies or find their next hustle or just get that application in for a loan or unemployment. Essential workers who are putting in really long hours to ensure that we can have access to groceries and public services.
All bundled up to work remotely from the park last week for a change of scenery. (What I was looking at was far prettier than what’s behind me!)
And, of course, for our health care workers, these times call for heroism far beyond even the preposterousness that was typical for doctors and nurses before all of this started. Incredibly long days, heart wrenching decisions, and risking their lives day in and day out. The ones we cheer for at the nightly 7pm Howl in gratitude for their sacrifice.
I do not mean to diminish these experiences in any way. But I am fascinated that for many people “busy” is no longer the default response to “how are you doing?”
People are now holing up in their homes for their own sake, for their loved ones, and for strangers. For many of us, the things that used to keep us so crazy busy are now paused or eliminated entirely. We don’t have anywhere else to be on a Tuesday morning at 10 AM or a Friday night at 8PM. We’re home. We’re in our yards if we have them or maybe a park if we don’t. We’re going for a walk or a bike ride. We’re rediscovering hobbies - either new or old. We’re talking on the phone to our loved ones near and far. And when “busy” isn’t the default, we can pay more attention to how we actually are. How are we feeling? What are we doing? What do we want to be doing? It’s an opportunity for reflection and recalibration.
We’re hanging in there. Raffi is an excellent role model for relaxation. I’m taking cues from him. (He was sleeping like this. Me taking the pic woke him up!)
I’ve been starting each weekend making a Could/Should List. And I’m finding that I’m checking off most of my shoulds eventually, but I’m also getting to more of my coulds.
In the past week I’ve participated in a zoom murder mystery dinner party, a physically distanced surprise birthday party picnic, hosted the first check in for my Downsizing E-Course with 14 awesome participatnts, and proposed a Tiny House Design E-course through Yestermorrow with my beloved co-instructor Erin Maile O’Keefe. (If you’re interested in this last one, please let me know!)
Even better, I’m appreciating doing less and being more. More journaling. More meditation. More gardening. More appreciation for the fig leaves unfurling. More just sitting with my cup of tea and watching the world wake up. A couple of days ago I woke up to frog song. They found our pond! I have new neighbors! They’re a little noisy. But I rather like them.
The Lucky Penny has been a great place for hol(d)ing up in this global pandemic. I’m more grateful than ever before to be parked in this glorious garden in a beautiful neighborhood!
I think part of the reason people ask me how I’m holding up is that I live in 100 square feet. And it’s true that there are a couple of challenges with this. Shopping in bulk is trickier for instance. I have to put my standing desk set up (which involves canned goods and my stool as a laptop stand) away when I’m not working so I can cook or sleep. And when I do my aerial conditioning with Echo Theater inside my tiny house there are some exercises I just can’t do in my postage stamp of a floor. But my tiny house has always been a reason to live bigger. To appreciate the world outside and to get out into it. So I prefer to do my aerial exercises outside on nice days. I try to get out for walks and bike rides daily. I’m gardening so I can grow more of my own food this year.
For the most part, The Lucky Penny has been a really lovely place to hole up, so I’m holding up just fine. I hope you are, too!
Be well.