A. Catherine Noon here. Thank you so much to Delilah for inviting me back to her blog. I’m glad to be here.

And yet, we are living in such unprecedented times. I live in the state of Washington, five miles from the original epicenter of the COVID outbreak. Our governor just extended our stay-at-home orders until May 31.

And I have a cold.

Or something. It’s so easy, even in the best of times, to come up with dire predictions. I am, after all, a writer – a strong and vivid imagination is part of the job. My mind has been treating me to all sorts of scenarios about what my illness is, and none of them involve a cold. (My doctor thinks it’s an upper respiratory illness or seasonal allergies, and I’m doing what she tells me to do to get well.) But it’s lasting, what feels like forever.

Kind of like this pandemic.

But like many other kinds of prolonged dangers, the Great Pause can be seen as something to be abhorred, ignored, and fought; or as a great opportunity to learn resilience. I choose to see it as the latter.

Here are my guidelines for surviving the Great Pause. They are what I try to remind myself in times of stress – which, if I’m honest, is pretty much all the time right now. It doesn’t help anything that I have PTS and agoraphobia: now, going out really CAN cause me harm. So it’s easy to fall into a rabbit hole of fear and reactivity. In order to stay calm and carry on, this is what I’ve found helpful:

1. Avoid the news. I focus on what my governor and our health department have to say as it’s relevant to me and my family and, beyond that, I try to ignore it.
2. Make stuff. Anything. This may seem silly, but the simple act of making something, be it a dish for dinner or a craft, can help restore a sense of empowerment and control. We cannot control other people or a virus, but we CAN make something.
3. Meditate. I use two resources for this: the Calm app and iRest Yoga Nidra. If these are things you’ve seen but haven’t yet tried, I urge you to check them out.
4. Rest. Nap. Get a good night’s sleep. I know it’s tempting to stay up to all hours scrolling on social media. Don’t. Treat your brain like the sensitive and amazing instrument it is.
5. Eat clean. We all know what that means for ourselves. So do it. Don’t be sloppy. Don’t let the awful fear win. Be strong, keep the faith, and eat well for your body.

If you would like to try the Calm app for free, I have five guest passes available. Please leave a comment below and let me know your email and I’ll be happy to send one.

Or, if you prefer, email me at noony@acatherinenoon.com with “Calm App” in the subject line. This will go to the first five responses I receive; first come, first served, no purchase necessary.

And now, Dear Reader, I’d love to know: what techniques help keep you on an even keel during the Great Pause?

—
“My own experience has taught me this: if you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured it may never arrive.”
~ Maurice Chevalier
acatherinenoon.com | noonandwilder.com | writerzengarden.com | knoontimeknitting.com

UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
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Psst! Just a quick reminder!
This offer is ending in just a couple of days!
Get your free read! Lily’s Last Stand

So, here we are in our third week of lockdown. It has been three weeks now, right? Hard to tell. The days blend together.

On the pro side of things (I don’t let myself think about any cons!)—I’m nearing the end of another book! Yay! My dd has been decorating/rearranging things in the house. It’s so pretty now! Her attention has now turned to the storage sheds. I’m not sure how that means multiple trips to the dump and the burn pile, but she has warned me not to look—so for my mental health, I have not! The kids have really liked their online classes and assignments. Sure, they miss their friends, but they’ve been hanging out on TikTok and FaceTime. They aren’t feeling horribly isolated. Not yet, anyway. And now, Arkansas has made the hard decision to close the schools through the end of the school year. What a relief!

Today, in addition to hopefully getting to the end of my book, I begin my #100dayproject art challenge! I’m stoked! I haven’t done anything to prepare, so I’ll be busy scrambling to do my first pieces. I’m sharing everything I do on Instagram. The good and the bad. (I’m sure there will be lots of horrific, too! 🙂 ) An artist, I am not, but I do love working with paints and color, so it feeds something inside me. Makes me happy. That’s the point.

So, three weeks in, how are you feeling? I saw something from Dr. Fauci saying that our return to normal will mean a “new normal.” Makes me sad that we will forever be hyper-aware of what we touch, who we stand next to, and that this disease will continue to be with us. I’m so very thankful that my family lives in a rural area, away from other people. I can’t imagine how paranoid people living in cities will become.

On a lighter note, I have another puzzle for you! It’s something fun! Solve the puzzle, then answer me this for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

If you were to write a YA book using this picture as the cover,
what would the story be about?