Turns out your mother was right. She told you to “take a shower, get dressed, make your bed, tidy your room and get some fresh air.” She probably called this simply YOUR JOB (“Who am I, your maid?”). Neatnik, an online organizing site, calls it the “Quarantine Reset.” It takes less than one hour to regain some control in your small corner of an uncertain world.
The point is to establish new routines, where old ones no longer fit. Self-care, like showering and dressing in clean clothes, is a huge step forward if you’ve been bingeing Netflix and eating Doritos in your jammies. Bed-making and tidying bring physical and mental order out of chaos. A few minutes enjoying nature, with some deep breaths, and a little sunlight, and everything looks and feels better.
God created us to need something to do. The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work the soil and take care of the garden. Genesis 2:15 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
He gave us a rhythm in life, not because He needed rest, but because we do. You may work six days a week to do your job. But the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. Exodus 20:9-10a Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
So how do we retrieve what the coronavirus has stolen? A clue is in the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:
God, give me Grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Jesus says, “I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn’t like the peace that this world can give. So don’t be worried or afraid.” John 14:27 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” President Theodore Roosevelt
Good idea. Excuse me; I desperately need a shower.