Today is the first day that COVID-19 has impacted my normal life. 

For the last couple of weeks, my everyday life was the same as ever. It’s been kind of surreal to read and hear all these dramatic news from all over the world, but not noticing any difference in my own life. People are dying, events cancelled, bars and restaurants closed, ghost cities and now closed borders – and yet nothing changed for me. 

I read up on what it means to self-isolate because I wanted to be prepared. I’m not all that worried about my own health given I’m in the low-risk group, age and health-wise. But I fear that I could catch the virus without noticing it and then passing it on to others on my travels – including more vulnerable people. With a dad who is in the high-risk group, I’m definitely taking this situation seriously. So I wanted to be prepared and know what it would mean to self-isolate should I start to feel sick or come in contact with a confirmed or suspected case. 

It turns out, the average person that follows the self-isolation guidelines tends to have more social contact that I do in my normal life. Have you seen these “when you realise your normal life is called quarantine” memes on the internet? That’s me. 

I’m an introvert who loves her own company. I can easily go without any close social contact for several weeks – a few phone calls with good friends is enough social contact for me. I avoid big crowds at the best of times. I work entirely remotely and have been for over two years now. I am travelling on my own in my fully self-contained campervan in a remote part of a remote country. I mostly eat fresh veggies and animal products – things people can’t bulk-buy so I haven’t even been affected by any of that crazy behaviour. 

In short, it’s been life as usual for me – with a bit of extra handwashing.  

Today it’s raining. It’s one of those days where it just rains from the moment you get up to the time you go to bed. And I’m close to Dunedin, one of NZ’s bigger cities. Usually, on days like these, I like to go to the local library, museum or pool, or maybe even a shopping centre just to get out and get moving – It’s hard to get to my daily goal of 10,000 steps in a van where the full tour from the lounge to a kitchen to the bathroom adds up to about six steps.  

But of course, none of those are smart options right now. While Dunedin only has three confirmed cases so far, I’d rather not take any unnecessary risks – and many public buildings are closed anyway. 

So today is the first time since this whole thing started that I can’t do what I would usually do because of the virus.

But what a minor, super tiny inconvenience it is. 

It made me realise how lucky I am that this situation has such little impact on my everyday life, and it made me think of all the people whose lives have been massively disrupted. It must be scary when life all the sudden is so utterly different from what is normal for you with no idea for how long. It must be especially frightening when you have to worry about your financial security, or even worse, your safety. 

When I think about how scared and uncertain some people must feel and how much their lives have changed all the sudden, I can kind of understand why people raid supermarket shelves. It probably gives them some sense of control, a feeling of doing everything they can in an uncertain situation. 

However, despite the situation being scary and certainly tragic for many people, I can also see opportunity in it. Whether we like it or not, this virus is changing our world. It remains to be seen how much of this change is temporary and how much will last beyond the pandemic. But I think that this is not something that will go away in a few weeks, so we might as well get comfortable with this new normal. 

The good news is, I think there are a lot of opportunities to get something positive out of it all.

If you’re one of those people who suddenly find themselves with a lot more ‘at home’ time than usual, think about how you can use it productively. Learn something new (there are online courses to learn just about anything, and many are free). Start a big creative project like painting, building model trains or cars, or writing that book you’ve always thought about. Write that business plan for the startup idea that’s been on your mind for ages – maybe even learn how to build a website or code you own prototype. Read all those ‘must-read’ books you’ve never had time for before. Experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. Start a board game tournament with your family. 

There are so many things you could be doing…

I think we all have an opportunity to make sure something good comes out of this for us. Wouldn’t it be great if you can look back when this is all behind us and think “yes, it was tough, but without this virus, I would have probably never done XYZ, and I’m grateful that I got a chance to do it”? Who knows, you might even discover a new passion and purpose in life. I only wrote my book, One Size Does Not Fit All, because I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands after giving up my full-time job, and it’s one of the best things I’ve done and set me off on an inspiring new path in life. The same could happen to you, thanks to COVID-19. 

UPDATE - 22 March

Isn’t life’s timing a bitch sometimes?!?! 

Yesterday I published a blog post saying how lucky I feel that this virus has not dramatically impacted my life yet, and literally a few minutes later our government releases a statement asking us to stop all non-essential domestic travel. Well, I’m definitely affected now!! 

So, all travel plans are on hold while I head to South New Brighton holiday park to stay put for a while. It sucks and I’m frustrated but no matter how I look at it, my travels are NOT essential. I still believe that, given my introverted lifestyle, the chances of me getting the virus right now while there are so few cases in New Zealand is fairly low. But I’m not naive enough to think there is no risk. All it would take is me catching it in a supermarket or at a dump station and then passing it on to someone at the next a few towns over. I would be devastated if even just one person would suffer because of my selfish behavior. I also hate to think how many valuable resources would need to go into tracking down everyone I might have had direct or indirect contact with on my travels - that’s something much easier to do for people infected that didn’t travel (one of the reasons we’re asked to stop traveling) 

So as much as I hate it, it’s time to stay put for a while. 

If you’re a fellow traveler, PLEASE, PLEASE  do the responsible thing and stop your travels. Stay where you are or head to somewhere where you can see yourself be safe and comfortable for several months if needed and then stay there. I know this is tough but like everyone else in the world right now, we need to do our part.

Maybe we get lucky and this is all over in a few weeks. But even if not, staying put seems like a small price to pay compared to what some other people have to deal with and give up. 

Stay safe everyone!!