By now everyone has some idea of what the world is facing and how it may affect them. It's not really possible to access the news in any format that isn't determined to raise your fear and anxiety levels. It's what they do, drama. For what it's worth this is my attempt to help you see a different side, not to minimize in any way, but a more positive way of looking at this. I know that many who come here are facing personal demons that in the best of times are difficult to contain. I understand and want you to revisit the ways that have helped you in the past. Now is the time to take advantage of any path to care you can. There are at least two dominant lifestyles represented here, those mobile on the road and those who would like to be. This is for both. First, remember that the odds of you getting a virus are huge in your favor! Some will get sick but the vast majority will not! Most likely all of us are going to experience a real lifestyle change, that can and should be positive. Let me share with you how I'm dealing with this challenge. I have habits that I don't like, nothing serious just annoying personally. I have the time now to work on a positive path to changing them. I am going to take the time to let the people in my life know how much they mean to me and how appreciative I am of them. I have projects I've been putting off that now I want to get on a schedule and complete. I have a couple of creative projects I have thought about for years that now may be the time to approach. See the trend here? I'm going to move in a positive manner while dealing with day to day. I refuse to let bad news dominate my life, I am in charge of me not the news cycle. Sure, I'll check in once in awhile but it won't direct my life or thoughts. My point here is to help. Maybe to spark a positive direction in the difficult time, a different more positive approach to your day. There are several threads here that discuss the current news and all that entails. I would hope this one could be an alternative to that. A place to come to be uplifted and encouraged, I know that would be of benefit to me and many, many others. What positive direction are you considering? What will you do to manage this chapter of your life?
COPING
- Thread starter owl
- Start date
Help Support Van Living Forum:
Good on ya, Owl!
Chaos/crisis has always had gifts for me once I quit resisting the inevitable change and focus on the Now...today, not fearing tomorrow or regurgitating/regretting the past. Usually emotions are the block to Now.
Chaos/crisis has always had gifts for me once I quit resisting the inevitable change and focus on the Now...today, not fearing tomorrow or regurgitating/regretting the past. Usually emotions are the block to Now.
Thanks for this thread.
My current plan for this part of my life is to keep on living. I'm of course making common sense decisions like not going to large indoor gatherings (not that there are any to go to since they've all been cancelled), but other than that, I'm going to try to go forward with life as planned, as much as possible.
I'm currently at home base, watching the winter fade to spring (which in Wyoming means the snow starting to mix with rain), and enjoying life. I've been pondering some projects I want to get done, watching some movies, and keeping in touch with friends and family.
I was supposed to go to California in July, and already have a reservation at the KOA in Ventura. But I'm probably going to cancel that. I don't really like the crowds of Southern California to start with, and people aren't particularly rational right now. So I think I'm going to camp in Wyoming instead in July, and head towards New Mexico and Arizona around October. I'm hoping to recruit a friend from Santa Fe to come along, and then visit my stepfather for Thanksgiving.
My other focus right now is getting out of debt. I'd like to have no large debts and no unsecured debt by probably June or so, with the exception of my truck. I'll probably have a truck loan for a couple more years, because my diesel pickup was expensive, and I have minimal interest as well as gap insurance, so the cost and risk is minimal. But in general, I think having little to zero debt is a good thing, especially when things are a little weird.
Overall though, stay positive, don't watch the mass media news, and be good to each other.
Peace,
Harley.
My current plan for this part of my life is to keep on living. I'm of course making common sense decisions like not going to large indoor gatherings (not that there are any to go to since they've all been cancelled), but other than that, I'm going to try to go forward with life as planned, as much as possible.
I'm currently at home base, watching the winter fade to spring (which in Wyoming means the snow starting to mix with rain), and enjoying life. I've been pondering some projects I want to get done, watching some movies, and keeping in touch with friends and family.
I was supposed to go to California in July, and already have a reservation at the KOA in Ventura. But I'm probably going to cancel that. I don't really like the crowds of Southern California to start with, and people aren't particularly rational right now. So I think I'm going to camp in Wyoming instead in July, and head towards New Mexico and Arizona around October. I'm hoping to recruit a friend from Santa Fe to come along, and then visit my stepfather for Thanksgiving.
My other focus right now is getting out of debt. I'd like to have no large debts and no unsecured debt by probably June or so, with the exception of my truck. I'll probably have a truck loan for a couple more years, because my diesel pickup was expensive, and I have minimal interest as well as gap insurance, so the cost and risk is minimal. But in general, I think having little to zero debt is a good thing, especially when things are a little weird.
Overall though, stay positive, don't watch the mass media news, and be good to each other.
Peace,
Harley.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,263
- Reaction score
- 216
We have both been "mildly" ill for over 10 days now. I am looking forward to having more energy soon. In the meantime, I've been thinking...
In a way, it's kind of exciting to imagine how our cultures may necessarily realign our values. For example, among the many emails I've received from various businesses was one from Bed Bath & Beyond, which essentially said that they had identified 800 of their stores which stock nothing anyone needs! Those stores will close.
Please don't flame me for being insensitive to the needs of really all of us who are dependent on our current economic system, but I do think BB&B's analysis includes an important message to us as consumers and enablers of a broken way of life.
Also, has anyone looked at the list of "essential service providers" in California? It is striking that many of the skill sets and professions we really do depend on have been considered low status jobs in our dominant culture. I remember one of my friend's daughters remarking that it was difficult to understand how she could be well-paid to sew beads on debutantes evening gowns, but was hard pressed to earn anything doing what she both loved and did extremely well--grow food!
Let's imagine a better world--then build it from what remains!
In a way, it's kind of exciting to imagine how our cultures may necessarily realign our values. For example, among the many emails I've received from various businesses was one from Bed Bath & Beyond, which essentially said that they had identified 800 of their stores which stock nothing anyone needs! Those stores will close.
Please don't flame me for being insensitive to the needs of really all of us who are dependent on our current economic system, but I do think BB&B's analysis includes an important message to us as consumers and enablers of a broken way of life.
Also, has anyone looked at the list of "essential service providers" in California? It is striking that many of the skill sets and professions we really do depend on have been considered low status jobs in our dominant culture. I remember one of my friend's daughters remarking that it was difficult to understand how she could be well-paid to sew beads on debutantes evening gowns, but was hard pressed to earn anything doing what she both loved and did extremely well--grow food!
Let's imagine a better world--then build it from what remains!
H good alternative choice without a lot of misleading advertising hyped up click bait news would be the NPR dot org website and for important local news the local NPR news from your FM radio. That will save your electrical power use and your internet data use as well.
BB&B says it stocks nothing anyone needs? You might want to modify that to nothing absolutely critical to life.
Well unless you count blankets as not being critical, but fortunately many people do have blankets or can obtain blankets from community charity sources. It is still very cold.
The real underlying reason for BB&Gs altruistic sounding message was to hide that their business was failing even before the crisis began and that they needed to close quite a few of the stores or go under altogether. Many traditional store retailers that were typically located close to or in shopping malls are going under as are the shopping malls. Yhat is because the way people shop has changed. More shopping is being done online both because of the convenience and because items can be obtain for less money. It cost a lot of money for stores to rent storefront retail space and staff it. It cost far less to retain the warehouse, do a slight increase of that staff and let the rest of their workforce go. In cases of stores such as BB&B goods might not even be shipped out of their own warehouse but from larger regional gathering places where groups of companies lease space. Even the major chains that were primarily focused on one subset of retail goods are now expanding their online offerings to all kinds of merchandise which never enter its own facilities.
Mass media news can be important in spreading vital information. But the issue becomes when they are in competition for viewership and then begin to cover the wildly divergent "human interest" stories and way out there opinions of people who do believe it is doomsday. That attention spotlight on the way out there stuff can actually make extreme groups grow larger. No all of the population is adapt at doing critical thinking that allows them to analyze the behavior of their own self much less the underlying motives that drive people who falsely purport that they are doing something for the good of humanity. Of course not being adept at analytical thinking can also lead to thinking that they are being lied to by authorities such as asking them to shelter in place and not do panic buying and hoarding. My biggest issue with some of the mass media websites for the news is they are very willing to sell advertising space to companies that post all kinds of nonsensical so called sensational "news" stories. Click bait is in great abundance on websites such as CNN because they are making a fortune off of it. Even many of the websites of local TV stations and newspapers are full of it.
Some peole's lives will be changed forever by this situation. For other's it is everyday life on pause for a while until this situation has receded. But the USA and many other countries have not seen this kind of normal life on pause throughout the whole country since WWII and even then in the USA and Canada as well as the rest of the American continent it was not as big of a pause for so many people. However it will not be nearly as long lasting as WWII. But now people will have a greater understanding of the devastation that the Spanish flu wrought. They did not have our modern medications or medical equipment to help people survive it.
BB&B says it stocks nothing anyone needs? You might want to modify that to nothing absolutely critical to life.
Well unless you count blankets as not being critical, but fortunately many people do have blankets or can obtain blankets from community charity sources. It is still very cold.
The real underlying reason for BB&Gs altruistic sounding message was to hide that their business was failing even before the crisis began and that they needed to close quite a few of the stores or go under altogether. Many traditional store retailers that were typically located close to or in shopping malls are going under as are the shopping malls. Yhat is because the way people shop has changed. More shopping is being done online both because of the convenience and because items can be obtain for less money. It cost a lot of money for stores to rent storefront retail space and staff it. It cost far less to retain the warehouse, do a slight increase of that staff and let the rest of their workforce go. In cases of stores such as BB&B goods might not even be shipped out of their own warehouse but from larger regional gathering places where groups of companies lease space. Even the major chains that were primarily focused on one subset of retail goods are now expanding their online offerings to all kinds of merchandise which never enter its own facilities.
Mass media news can be important in spreading vital information. But the issue becomes when they are in competition for viewership and then begin to cover the wildly divergent "human interest" stories and way out there opinions of people who do believe it is doomsday. That attention spotlight on the way out there stuff can actually make extreme groups grow larger. No all of the population is adapt at doing critical thinking that allows them to analyze the behavior of their own self much less the underlying motives that drive people who falsely purport that they are doing something for the good of humanity. Of course not being adept at analytical thinking can also lead to thinking that they are being lied to by authorities such as asking them to shelter in place and not do panic buying and hoarding. My biggest issue with some of the mass media websites for the news is they are very willing to sell advertising space to companies that post all kinds of nonsensical so called sensational "news" stories. Click bait is in great abundance on websites such as CNN because they are making a fortune off of it. Even many of the websites of local TV stations and newspapers are full of it.
Some peole's lives will be changed forever by this situation. For other's it is everyday life on pause for a while until this situation has receded. But the USA and many other countries have not seen this kind of normal life on pause throughout the whole country since WWII and even then in the USA and Canada as well as the rest of the American continent it was not as big of a pause for so many people. However it will not be nearly as long lasting as WWII. But now people will have a greater understanding of the devastation that the Spanish flu wrought. They did not have our modern medications or medical equipment to help people survive it.
Hello Owl. Sending good thoughts your way!
On a fun, positive note, had a phone conversation the other evening with my daughter who works for FB and the whole company is working from home. She is in a small apartment with her husband and two young children in San Francisco and has "meetings" with coworkers frequently throughout the day in many different time zones. In one, a young woman's two year old comes into view brandishing a plastic toy golf club and without skipping a beat she reaches out and takes it away and the meeting continues on. So much for maintaining a professional image. My six year old grandson said, "Gramma, I got grounded." Now, they are sheltering in place. Grounded? I asked him, "What did you do to get grounded?" He said, "I went into Mom's office when I wasn't supposed to." Seems she works in her bedroom and the new house rule is when the door is closed, it becomes her office and the kids are not supposed to come in. I did not ask what "grounded" meant. Another coworker showed his "desk" -- it was an ironing board and he stated it worked great because it is adjustable and he can stand, sit, be very comfortable. I think that is brilliant! People making do and continuing on, gotta love it.
And most importantly of all, my "grounded" grandson has his first loose tooth and I have it on good authority that the Tooth Fairy is immune to everything and is still making rounds! And my grandson will have to learn about saving his money because they can't go out and spend it. I asked him what will he do without that tooth? He said he will get a new one. I said he needs to take very good care of his teeth because when the new one comes in, that has to last forever because no more new ones, right? No, Gramma, you can buy new ones. He's right. Kids. Silver linings everywhere you look.
As for me, nothing much has changed. I rarely go out anyway. My Little Guy from the shelter and I are learning each other's ways and getting into our own routines. He is smarter than I thought (shihtzu, not the smartest breed around) and makes me laugh and surprizes me now and then with his attentiveness. When the snow melts and the mud dries a bit, I may set up a mini agility course in the back yard and see what he can do.
On a fun, positive note, had a phone conversation the other evening with my daughter who works for FB and the whole company is working from home. She is in a small apartment with her husband and two young children in San Francisco and has "meetings" with coworkers frequently throughout the day in many different time zones. In one, a young woman's two year old comes into view brandishing a plastic toy golf club and without skipping a beat she reaches out and takes it away and the meeting continues on. So much for maintaining a professional image. My six year old grandson said, "Gramma, I got grounded." Now, they are sheltering in place. Grounded? I asked him, "What did you do to get grounded?" He said, "I went into Mom's office when I wasn't supposed to." Seems she works in her bedroom and the new house rule is when the door is closed, it becomes her office and the kids are not supposed to come in. I did not ask what "grounded" meant. Another coworker showed his "desk" -- it was an ironing board and he stated it worked great because it is adjustable and he can stand, sit, be very comfortable. I think that is brilliant! People making do and continuing on, gotta love it.
And most importantly of all, my "grounded" grandson has his first loose tooth and I have it on good authority that the Tooth Fairy is immune to everything and is still making rounds! And my grandson will have to learn about saving his money because they can't go out and spend it. I asked him what will he do without that tooth? He said he will get a new one. I said he needs to take very good care of his teeth because when the new one comes in, that has to last forever because no more new ones, right? No, Gramma, you can buy new ones. He's right. Kids. Silver linings everywhere you look.
As for me, nothing much has changed. I rarely go out anyway. My Little Guy from the shelter and I are learning each other's ways and getting into our own routines. He is smarter than I thought (shihtzu, not the smartest breed around) and makes me laugh and surprizes me now and then with his attentiveness. When the snow melts and the mud dries a bit, I may set up a mini agility course in the back yard and see what he can do.
What a ray of sunshine this thread is! Thank you. Loved getting an update on Little Guy and words from the mouth of babes (grandson). I am grateful I am not yet full-time van dwelling during this pandemic with everything shut down. I grabbed library books randomly off the shelves yesterday before they closed until May. Eerily the first one I started reading is "A History of the Future"...a World Made by Hand Novel. Seems to be one of a series by James Howard Kunstler. This one was written in 2014 and is about a village called Union Grove in Washington County, upstate NY. It is set in the future and tells about a world post-pandemic and after the bombing of DC and other major cities. Everything reverts to the 19th century way of life as there is no longer electricity, gas, long-distance travel or jobs not related to agriculture, carpentry, blacksmithing, etc. Scary in some ways but comforting in others. Keep the posts coming, please, as I am socially isolated otherwise.
I was always interested even as a kid in what life was life in the pre-industrial era.
It is kind of a big thing now in the woodworking community to do all the work with hand tools instead of power tools. Blacksmithing is also a very much revived interest as is spinning, weaving, etc. But that is not too new, there was also a revival of it all in the late 1960s and even a yet earlier revival of interest in the 1930s when they began fixing up the buildings in Colonial Williamsburg and started having people demonstrating the old skills used during the colonial era.
I learned a lot of those skills over the year, tin smithing, weaving and spinning, candle making, soap making, all kinds of hand tools for woodworking. How to clean and trim the wicks on oil lamps. How to skin a cat...just joking, but I can skin, tan the hide and then hand stitch a jacket from rabbit skins. Amazing the things that one had the opportunity to learn in classes when attending university in the 1970s in Alaska and even get credits for learning them
But I learned the oil lamp stuff and many other farm chore skills from my great grandparents who were off grid and never did choose to be on grid.
It is kind of a big thing now in the woodworking community to do all the work with hand tools instead of power tools. Blacksmithing is also a very much revived interest as is spinning, weaving, etc. But that is not too new, there was also a revival of it all in the late 1960s and even a yet earlier revival of interest in the 1930s when they began fixing up the buildings in Colonial Williamsburg and started having people demonstrating the old skills used during the colonial era.
I learned a lot of those skills over the year, tin smithing, weaving and spinning, candle making, soap making, all kinds of hand tools for woodworking. How to clean and trim the wicks on oil lamps. How to skin a cat...just joking, but I can skin, tan the hide and then hand stitch a jacket from rabbit skins. Amazing the things that one had the opportunity to learn in classes when attending university in the 1970s in Alaska and even get credits for learning them
But I learned the oil lamp stuff and many other farm chore skills from my great grandparents who were off grid and never did choose to be on grid.California is fine. It’s quiet and calm and people are following the social distance rule and being polite, respectful and helpful. Most people are staying home or only going out for necessities.
Ventura is quite different from Los Angeles and San Diego. Small and far fewer people. Very peaceful.
But yes the flip side of this virus is that we have everything to ourselves again like when I was little in the 60’s and 70’s beaches are fantastic. So yes by all means go to Wyoming. Enjoy! They can use the tourist dollars.
Ventura is quite different from Los Angeles and San Diego. Small and far fewer people. Very peaceful.
But yes the flip side of this virus is that we have everything to ourselves again like when I was little in the 60’s and 70’s beaches are fantastic. So yes by all means go to Wyoming. Enjoy! They can use the tourist dollars.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,263
- Reaction score
- 216
maki2 said:
For several years now I've had plans to spend time in Utah visiting the national parks. Someone mentioned Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" that was about his time as a ranger at Arches NP and I bought that book last week.
Here's an excerpt that I found to be fitting at this time:
...I wait on the shore of time,temporarily free from the force of motion and process and the surge toward---what?
Something called the future? I am free, I am compelled, to comtemplate the world that underlies life,
struggle, thought, ideas, the human labryinth of hope and despair.
Here's an excerpt that I found to be fitting at this time:
...I wait on the shore of time,temporarily free from the force of motion and process and the surge toward---what?
Something called the future? I am free, I am compelled, to comtemplate the world that underlies life,
struggle, thought, ideas, the human labryinth of hope and despair.
highdesertranger
R.I.P HDR
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2012
- Messages
- 22,892
- Reaction score
- 87
"Desert Solitaire", great read. highdesertranger
I'm shut up at home with my age and condition . According to all the news its after me
Well it wont get much . I've already cheated the undertaker. Anyway to day found me reading all day. I read the news local and got quite the laugh that's lasted all day. I have been wondering what people would do out of money. Well this morning a guy robbed a bank in FtSmith . He pulls up to the drive thru and tells the lady it's a hold up . Give me your money. She noticed he had no gun. He pulled up to bullet proof glass. She thought well she would give him a bag of money anyway. It was fake money they keep for such an incident. He got labeled on the news as the dumbest robber. Sometimes the news is funny.
Well it wont get much . I've already cheated the undertaker. Anyway to day found me reading all day. I read the news local and got quite the laugh that's lasted all day. I have been wondering what people would do out of money. Well this morning a guy robbed a bank in FtSmith . He pulls up to the drive thru and tells the lady it's a hold up . Give me your money. She noticed he had no gun. He pulled up to bullet proof glass. She thought well she would give him a bag of money anyway. It was fake money they keep for such an incident. He got labeled on the news as the dumbest robber. Sometimes the news is funny.
