Perspective, or “Your Hands Freeze First”

One month ago, on March 5, 2020, there were 15 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States. As I write this, one month later, there have been more than 330,000 confirmed cases and almost 10,000 deaths related to COVID-19.

As I have said for years, we cannot control what happens to us, but we can control our reaction.  Let’s focus on making our reaction both calm and constructive.

Each night when I read a book before going to sleep my hands often become cold.  I asked my doctor about this and he said, “The same thing happens to me.  Don’t worry about it.”  So I stopped worrying about it.

The reason your hands freeze first, and not your elbows, chin, or thighs, is that the body retains heat in its core areas – the brain and the heart. Let’s use this as a metaphor to help us get through the next few months.  Let’s pay attention to our immediate core needs for food, medication, and shelter.  We don’t need to rush out and buy a new pair of shoes (and if we do there are plenty of online retailers).

This is a time to establish a positive perspective. We shouldn’t be thinking about permanent solutions to what will be a temporary problem.  The Spanish Flu epidemic of 2018 did not recur to any significant extent in following years.  (Did you know that in Spain it is known as “The French Flu”?)

Perspective.  Few people worry about SARS anymore.

Perspective.  When I was young my mother feared Polio and refused to let us use a public swimming pool. Polio was one of the most terrifying childhood illnesses. Today Polio has been eradicated from all but a few countries in the world.

Perspective. In the early 1950’s there were about 50 million cases of smallpox in the world each year.  How many people in the world have smallpox today?  That’s right.  Exactly none.

Perspective.  Sheltering in place will pass.  Your favorite restaurant will reopen.  Everyone, including me, will need a haircut.

I’ve enjoyed watching a little more TV, reading a few more books, and spending time in Daveen’s company.  I’ve noticed the air is unpolluted, and recent Southern California days have been beautiful.  I’m filled with pride and appreciation for every person who is working hard to find solutions at my company. I am grateful to be part of such a fantastic team.  Everyone, mostly working from home, has risen to the challenge and they have been wonderful.  That is an experience I might never have enjoyed otherwise.

I do not intend to minimize the immediate and scary situation. But as a close friend told me years ago, “I’ve worried about many things in my life, most of which have never happened.”

Best of all, I imagine my grandchildren telling stories to their children, twenty or fifty years from now, about how they stayed at home for six or eight weeks during early 2020, and got on their parents’ nerves.

Perspective.

Keep safe.

Alan