UNITED STATES─There are a lot of people right now in this country who are experiencing what I call ‘going house stir crazy.’ Yes, people are actually staying in their homes and not doing anything. I happen to be on the road this weekend during the daytime hours and it simply looked like a ghost town people. There are very few cars on the road on a Saturday afternoon.
The notion of going to the movie theater seemed to be at a standstill with the box-office suffering some of the worst numbers we have seen in nearly 20 years. Yes, it was like you could hear crickets if you went to the movie theater. There is mass hysteria right now. People don’t want to do anything. I happened to venture to a mall as I had some bills that needed to be paid, as I was worried about what would happen if I didn’t pay my bills. It was the quietest I have seen this massive mall in years. The flow of people was almost non-existent America.
I asked some of the employees about the traffic and that astonished me: it has been like this all day. I mean I walked into a store and no one was in there, but me. It didn’t really worry me because it’s nice to shop without a massive flow of people in the store. You have the freedom to take your time not be worried about long wait lines, etc. With that said, being in the house can cause people to go stir crazy, because what do you do to pass the time. You can only watch so much TV America, you can only clean so much (which seems to be the biggest thing most Americans are doing right now).
I think we can clean our homes to the core to try to prevent this Coronavirus from spreading, but if it wants to find a way into our homes and such it will happen. Too much TV is not good because it means we are simply sitting on the couch and stuffing our faces. Yeah, we are not exercising as much because gyms have shuttered their doors, so the only way to make something happen is if you are exercising at home or taking brisk walks around your neighborhood.
You don’t want to be on the Internet because every time you search you hear about some new threat to civility or how the virus is now impacting another sector of government or the employment arena. Stocks are dropping like hot cakes, making people who have 401k or retirement plans worried sick about their money and what is going to happen to it. Gas is at its lowest rate, but no one wants to drive on the roads. It’s like just being in the presence of other people who you don’t know people are worried sick. However being stuck in the house with family will also make one go crazy. People who you’re used to seeing be at work are now at the home just stirring around and causing you to stress out.
Yeah it is never fun to see people at home during times that they’re usually not there. Why is that? Because they impact your rhythm on how you operate the home when they’re not there. That silence you’re used to if you work at home is no longer there and that can be very difficult to grapple with. Heck, as someone who works at home I’m accustomed to it, but that doesn’t mean people who have never worked from home understand how to operate when you have distractions on a constant basis.
I would argue if you are indeed stuck in the house do something that you haven’t done. Get caught up on organizing paperwork, listen to some music, organize your junky closet or shoes and clothing that is just littered all over the place. Do something productive if you can because for some of us, we’re out of work for the next 2-3 weeks at the current moment, it could extend longer or heck some people might find themselves without a job because of this pandemic that just seems to be getting worse and worse by the minute.
Being clamored in a house when you are not used to it, can indeed cause one to lose their mind potentially, but if you take deep breathes and just remind yourself that everything will be ok, you should have nothing to worry about in the long run. We’ll endure; we’ve faced far worse situations than what we’re currently dealing with. We’re Americans; we know how to bond together and survive during a crisis, this might seem like unknown territory for most of us, but what I can say is that I’m seeing the best in a lot of people come out in the midst of this crisis because people are showing their best selves and that is always a good thing.
Written By Jason Jones