A great weight has been lifted from my chest this week. Yesterday the powers that be announced that the school district I work for is finally, finally, moving to 100% remote learning which means I will get to stay home, get the rest I so desperately need, and avoid contracting the novel coronavirus from my often careless coworkers.
I am being asked to return to work in just over three weeks to continue training new classes of employees but with cases rising as fast as they are and the peak of cold and flu season approaching I will make the decision whether I return to work based on the case counts and my health at the time rather than what my superiors would like me to do. I just can’t keep on risking myself and my family for work I know can wait.
A weight of another kind is lifting too as the ballots go on being counted and this country moves closer and closer to an official resolution to the 2020 Presidential Election. The writing is already on the wall and the sitting President’s rants and legal challenges are only postponing the inevitable. I for one am relieved and proud, though still quite disappointed, in the work it took and more motivated than ever to do my part in that work moving forward.
For now though, there will be rest, on all levels and in as many ways as I can think of. I’m going to sleep more, of course, but I’m also going to rest my mind too and take a break from the stress and intensity of cable news and social media.
I learned a few lessons during my first quarantine last Spring and this time I’m a little more clear on what it will be like, what will be required of me, what I can do, and what I don’t have to do. I expect to enjoy this time a whole lot more and to focus on what really matters—my mental and physical health only.
Lisa Marie Blair 