I have now been in self-isolation for one month and one day. Earlier today the term “stayca” popped into mind. It is a period in which an individual or family stays home and participates in leisure activities within driving distance of their home and does not require overnight accommodations. The term is short for “staycation.”
I did go to the pharmacy drive through for John today, stopping at the quick lube to have the air pressure in my tires set (the low pressure light came on as we were driving home). I had a sign on my windshield announcing that I had a customer care card. It would not have been good to have them open the oil drain. The sign on my driver’s side window read: Low Tire Pressure Light is On. I was wearing my mask.
I also filled the gas tank up on the way home. Gas is down to $1.42 per gallon. Too bad we can’t go anywhere right now.
Things are different inside my mind today because John is having some pretty severe back discomfort, which seems to be sciatica. I am feeling some sadness.That is likely related to my friend, Bonnie, who is still in ICU on a vent with COVID-19.
Life feels so unstable. Of course, life is really no more unstable than it was before this pandemic. Unstable is the norm for life on this planet, but the emotions of the collective are amplifying personal feelings of wishing it wasn’t the way that it is.
Perhaps now that I have air in the tires and gas in the tank, I can take a modified penny vacation soon. It is sort-of-like a staycation. It is simple: Take a penny, and as you pull out of the drive, you flip the coin. Heads you go right, tails you go left. Every time you come to a stop, give the coin a flip. The same rules apply: heads you go right, tails you go left. You may stop any where you wish (this step is definitely more complicated by COVID-19), and you may go home any time you decide you want to.
Osho wrote: “And to reach home you need not enter any airplane, any train, any car. You need enter only yourself. And ticketless—no ticket is needed. Nobody is going to debar you; it is your territory.”
What is your territory? Where is your home?
Here at home, my “territory” is either my recliner in the great room or my mom’s glider in the front guest room / office. I like hearing the solar chimes and the sunshine feels very welcome. Here, I can appreciate being close to the action while not getting caught up in any of it. In many ways, my territory suits my style.
Most of the post mold-remediation cleaning is done. Occasionally I prance precariously close to terror about moving the office space at the end of May. What if we can’t? What if we can?
In many ways, the nature of what pushes me out of peace is always somewhat irrelevant: it is always just something.
Truth be told, the only stress in this stayca is simply the stress that results from realizing we are always living with things we cannot control. COVID-19 has not caused that fact so much as having clearly revealed it.
Imagine with me that we are watching the progression of ultrasound images of a baby developing in a womb. We know it is a baby, and we can make that out in the imaging, but the details are quite obscure.
What will May bring? June? July?
We have stopped planning.
And the habit energies do not like being disrupted so abruptly.
It reminds me of the meaning of the Rune “Isa” which speaks of stillness: A time of rest before action. A period of meditation and recharging before action is continued. It may be necessary to stop, take measure and look around in order to further assess a situation, rather to charge forward without direction. When the ice thaws it will retreat from the land and one’s direction will become clear. A time of fertile creation lies ahead. While the pace of forward movement may seem slow and inhibited at this time, the seeds of rebirth are active beneath the surface. The outward appearance of purity and stillness mask an explosion of fertility which lies ready in wait. All things will come in good time, and for now Isa reminds us that we must wait. The long winter is upon us now, but the cycle of seasons moves ever forward. Also a path of reflection and meditation. Inner calmness must be maintained at this time in order for deeper reflection to occur.
Ah, the challenge and the gift of an extended staycation….
