Fighting Back Against Zero Gravity in the Bubble

Hmmm, does this sound
familiar?

I
don’t know why, but I’m soooo tired. I’m dragging my butt to get through the
day.

It is a common lament
these days. I am officially anointing it as Lockdown
Languor. If that does not work for you, perhaps Pandemic Punch Drunk works. It is an oxymoron, but true, that doing
nothing can be exhausting. (One could ask: Is it the effort it takes to not ask
why that is sapping our energy? But that’s another story.)

How do we combat this
mental drain? I am testing three strategies.

Strategy
1: Facebook Quota

I am limiting myself to
a 5 minute scan of Facebook per day. Facebook is no longer a social networking
site. It has become a forum for the airing of grievances and venting repressed
frustrations from things unspoken. The vast majority of posts relate to two topics:
1) Donald Trump (pro and con)  2) The
pandemic and the related restrictions (pro and con).

Some social media
platforms have banished Trump from their sites. But unless Facebook changes its
algorithms to filter out Trump references, it will still be for all intents and
purposes Trumpbook. Even when he
officially vacates the White House, he will keep himself a social media
obsession. It is what he does best.

Strategy
2: The Canadian Game

I am planning to wholeheartedly
embrace the new NHL season as a step toward the return to normal we all crave.
The World Juniors Hockey Tournament
over the holidays was a welcome reprieve in that regard. The commentators’
constant references to the special pandemic precautions notwithstanding, it got
my head in a better space for a few hours.

I realize there will be
no fans in the arenas as was the case for the Big Bubble Playoffs earlier this
year. But I can get used to that. I really need to see something bucking the
trend and getting back on track even if it is in a pared down capacity.

Strategy
3: Conversational Blinders

I will not participate
in conversations about the big three watercooler topics: Trump, politics (of
all sorts, but American in particular) and the pandemic. There are other things
to talk about. We just have to make the effort.

So, if we happen to pass
in the street as our bubbles overlap (as unlikely as that is given the current
restrictions), please do not attempt to engage me about those topics. If you
have nothing else on your mind, just give me a friendly, social distanced wave
and keep walking. I apologize in advance if that sounds rude or antisocial. There
are times when silence is simply better.

We are living a zero
gravity existence in our bubbles and I am tired of it. I am putting my feet
back on the ground.

~ Now
Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting
Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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