Welcome to what has now turned into the Lockdown Diaries! One blog post each Friday, filled with a week’s worth of observations, discoveries and challenges.

I am trying to make this long-drawn-out transition from PAUSE to REOPEN somewhat fun and exciting. It’s not easy but here goes.

10 Highlights Of The Week. Enjoy!

1. Construction is back? An important first step.

• On Monday, May 4th, I walked through the Lower East Side to my “medical pedicure” (more on that below). I was amazed to see construction sites that had been dormant for the last six weeks buzzing with activity.
• My street (see above) was filled with trucks and construction workers. It was a joy to behold.
• I also noticed the plant and nursery market, across the street from me, doing brisk commercial business (no walk-in retail). Delivery trucks on hand every day, picking up large plant orders for some obviously essential “stay-in-place” balconies, patios, and backyard gardens.
• While construction is getting an early start on re-opening, offices are not expected to open in NYC until September. Google and Facebook, meanwhile, just told their employees they’ll be working from home through the end of the year. Restaurants and international travel are not expected to be fully operational until 2021.

Scroll down for more.

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The #100DayReset is my new passion project. The goal is to make the next 100 days count fully even though I am basically holed up in my apartment. But if this is what it takes to make the lockdown exciting, I’m all in.

Which means?

It means that I’m now in the “Acceptance” phase of the lockdown.

According to Monash University Psychiatrist Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, I’ve entered the 5th phase of self-isolation which is acceptance. That’s when we start to accept our “new” world and find it easier to manage our fluctuating emotions. It also means that we’re starting to live in the “now” and finding new ways to navigate the experience.

I definitely now fully accept that I will not be traveling for months (or even years!), I will not be checking out any new restaurants and I will not be having a birthday party or a holiday party this year.

But, most importantly, I’ve come to terms with the fact that NY and California and many other states, are going to “stay the course” until we have zero COVID deaths. In other words, until there is an approved vaccine. (Anything short of that would signal that the current strategy to save lives but put 30 million people out of work was not the ideal tactic.)

Bill Gates just wrote in his latest GatesNotes that a vaccine could potentially be available within 9 months. But it would be a miracle! Much more likely scenario: 2-4 years. Per Gates, the fastest time a vaccine has ever been developed is five years.

But I refuse to let that fact defeat my spirit

With the #100DayReset I’m challenging myself to make daily discoveries.

• Some will come from trekking around, exploring my neighborhood (discovering what’s surreptitiously open is exciting for me).
• Others will come from my customized Google news feed (what would we ever do without the internet?)
• Some will come from my friends and neighbors and our daily FaceTime videocalls.

What kind of discoveries?

I’m seeking out things that spark my curiosity. For example:

• New behaviors, e.g., putting together lists of people you want in your Top 10 Isolation Circle
• COVID trends from around the world, e.g., how the Brits are planning to keep over-50’s in lockdown for months with hefty police fines if they catch you sneaking out of the house
• New retail/marketing trends, e.g., face mask vending machines
• New forms of entertainment, e.g., SNL Home Edition

So strange to realize how small my world has gotten during this lockdown and yet my appetite for discovery is still so massive.

Scroll down to catch up on this week’s 7 discoveries.

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It happened this past Wednesday, April 22nd to be precise. A gorgeous Spring day, I went out to do a couple of errands and by the time I got home, the energy had shifted and I was in a completely new and more positive state of mind.

I had an epiphany based on research I’ve been doing!

A few weeks ago when I was feeling particularly despondent, I started a little passion project researching how people who have been forced to live in extreme isolation managed to survive, e.g., people who have been kidnapped, those immunocompromised who have to stay cooped up in their homes, death row inmates in solitary confinement, the Hikikomori (Japanese social recluses). I also came across Viktor Frankl’s inspiring book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which he wrote after he survived the Holocaust. His book has been listed as “one of the ten most influential books in the U.S.” by the Library of Congress and is recommended as one of Amazon’s Top 100 Books to Read In a Lifetime.

Why Bother, You Say?

Because everyone I’ve spoken to over the last few weeks is struggling with these feelings. Most of us are being whiplashed by our emotions. We feel sad, we feel scared, we feel angry. And all in a span of an hour on any single day.

And it’s highly likely that some form of lockdown will be with us for at least a year.

So no matter how we dice and slice it, even with states and countries working on re-opening, it will be sporadic and there will be lots of setbacks as second and third waves of the virus hit.

My intention in doing this research was to learn – and be inspired – by how extreme isolationists have coped with endless fear, loneliness, and boredom while in some form of confinement.

That said, and while we’re clearly not out of the woods yet, something definitely shifted for me last week. I’ve had an attitude adjustment and am feeling much more in control, less anxious, more positive!

Scroll down for what I’ve learned as well as an update on how it’s going in Sweden (and in NY).

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Now that it’s finally clear that we will be in this sucky situation for minimally 12 months, I’m trying to come up with a new life plan. Ideally, a passion project that provides meaning and excitement for the next 18 months.

The challenge?  

It has to be something I cannot wait to get out of bed for every morning BUT at the same, it has to be something that can be done while living as a recluse, Garbo-style.

Maybe that’s why Sweden’s been on my mind

As I’m sure most of you are aware, Sweden has decided to go with a very liberal lockdown policy which has raised a lot of eyebrows around the world. However, I must add that after speaking with my friends in Stockholm, it is a bit of a myth that no social distancing is going on.

What is true is that Sweden is at the forefront of the social distancing movement, e.g., more than half of households are single-person and more people work from home than anywhere else in Europe.

What has been controversial is that the death toll in Sweden is higher than in neighboring Denmark and Norway, but significantly lower than in Italy, Spain, and the UK, per Bloomberg News. 

The Swedish government did offer a handful of recommendations including suggestions to stop nonessential travel, to work from home, to keep a distance from others in public, and for regular handwashing. Additionally, the government banned gatherings of over 50 people and enacted a moratorium on visiting places like nursing homes. They’ve also added obesity and being over-70 to their list of high-risk factors.

That said, if the Swedish way holds and the country opens up to foreign visitors later this year (including for my over-70 cohort) while America stays locked down, I am seriously thinking of transplanting myself to my favorite hotel in Stockholm and weathering the pandemic there for however long it takes until America re-opens. Wintering in Sweden will definitely be a different experience but one I believe I would find pretty fascinating. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, scroll down for more on Sweden’s approach as well as 10 other intriguing discoveries on how we’re handling the pandemic.

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“Basically all these projections ended up being wrong.”

Andrew Cuomo, NY Governor, April 8

I’m intermittently optimistic, pissed off, depressed by this long drawn-out Groundhog’s Day experience. But as Cuomo keeps reminding us, it’s only been 40 days. That said, it seems interminable.

I fear we’ll be in this “plateau” purgatory for a couple of years

Why? Because until there’s a vaccine (18-24 months?) or unless we’ve been infected, “resolved” and have antibodies, we’re going to remain in social-distancing limbo.

This is even more apparent based on a recent report from the researchers at London’s Imperial College. They write that the best way to prevent the pandemic from recurring is through social distancing which could drag on for a year or more until doctors find a way to control the virus. A best-case scenario has a vaccine available for the general public in 18 months (but likely longer) with early supplies going to protect health workers.

So as you can see, I’m in the dumps today. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t even cheer me up. And even he sounds like he’s in a bit of a funk.

Scroll down for more on my ruminations over the last 40 days.

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Can’t believe it’s been two weeks since NYC’s been on lockdown. Weathering this storm turned out to be harder than I had anticipated. But I am back to my normal crusty self – in no small part due to my friends. I knew I had great people in my life but now I really know it!

One thing I have noticed about being at home (as pictured above) is how comforting it is for me to write while I’m propped up on my couch, especially when it’s a gorgeous day out and sunlight is streaming in from my South-facing windows.

Apparently my home is so comforting because it is Vastu Compliant.

I came across this India Tribune article on Vastu tips for COVID-19.

Vastu Shastra is the science of how we can balance energy at home to bring harmony. It’s like the Indian feng shui and is being promoted as a way to improve our shut-in experience.

• They suggest facing East while studying, working on a computer, watching television or using other electronics. Why? Because the East is the direction from which you get lots of positive energy as rays continuously pass from the East to the West.
• Secondly, once you face East, you are more focused on whatever activity you are doing.
• And guess what? When I’m sitting on my couch (as I am right now), I am facing East.
• But before you start re-arranging your furniture, there’s more!

Scroll down for the 10 things that have (mainly) cheered me up this week.

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