You Do You, I’ll Do Me: Better Safe Than Sorry

I have friends who are more in the “No News is Good News” camp.  Or the, “See No Evil” camp.  Do dogs carry COVID-19? We don’t know.  So, I guess I’ll play with other people’s dogs.  Can I get COVID-19 from someone who had it already if we’re outside 10ft apart with no masks on?  We don’t know, so maybe we’ll give it a whirl.

I’m doing more the better safe than sorry thing.  If I don’t know it’s safe, I’m avoiding it.  

And it’s a privilege to get to do that and I’m grateful I get to do that.  It’s becoming socially awkward to continue to make that choice as more things open and more friends decide that must mean it’s safe, or safe enough, to loosen up.

That’s not what it means to me and my family.  I’m scared that some of my friends take my better safe than sorry approach personally.  Like they think I think they are bad or foolish or inconsiderate for being in more close personal contact with the world than we are.  

I’m talking about friends who have a real choice, not friends whose livelihoods or callings or obligations require it.  Friends who have succumbed to the lure of going to restaurants, getting their hair done, hosting dinner parties.  I don’t think all those things about them.  

I do wish everyone were more like me, but that’s not new news.  I’d feel better if we all agreed about what to do and what’s to be done.  That’s not new news either.  They are doing their thing, and I am doing my thing, and that’s how it is.

My friend Jeremiah helped give me a way to be able to keep doing the better safe than sorry program without feeling like a freaky loser and allow them to do what they are doing without being wracked with co-dependent stress for their well-being and the well-being of all.

He said, “People do all kinds of risky things you don’t do.  People have unprotected sex with strangers, people share IV drug needles, people drive drunk, people ride motorcycles without helmets.”

And, let’s face it, I’m not into physical peril even with things a lot of people consider safe:  Sky-diving, bungee-jumping, contact sports, rock-climbing.  So that’s me.

So I’m playing it safe with the virus we know so little about, because I can, because that’s what’s right for me, that’s what makes me feel safer and saner than asking myself “do I feel lucky?” trying this or that.  

We don’t know so much.  But we do know that staying away from each other physically, not sharing air, even outside, impedes transmission.  So I’m doing that, still.  I’m gonna keep going. 

www.livingeveryminuteofit.com

P.S. I’ve upped my zoom game with blonde wig and butterfly headband. Positive comments welcome.