Message from a male reader: I’m 71 and still sleep with a Beautiful Woman!

That wise man is counting his blessings in a time of worry.

A laugh from a friend: A photo of a cocktail called a “Quarantini.” That’s humour amid crisis.

Medical science says that laughter produces chemicals in the body which relieve stress and enhance physical and mental health.

So, let’s have more of it. If you’re self-quarantined at home, sharing jokes and some amusing videos online is “good for you.”

The same goes for being helpful. Just circulating a list of stores that’ll deliver groceries or pharmacy needs, puts some people’s anxieties at ease.

Despite our rapidly-changing lifestyles due to Covid-19, there’s much to do:

Anything positive, anything that can help someone.

Keeping yourself safe is essential, but it doesn’t mean ignoring all others.

If you have an idea that can work in your community, send it out online. Ignore the naysayers.

So, here I am, self-quarantined Day 1 of 14, and using this advice column for the first time, to write about myself.

(My column is almost always about you, the Readers, who send me your personal relationship questions, seeking my published suggestions and advice).

Like many people these past two decades, I can work from anywhere on my laptop. In recent years, my husband and I found that the answer to weeks of cold, gray winters was to rent a small apartment near sand and sea for a while.

Now we’re back home.

Day 1 of staying isolated indoors has meant wiping down any supplies family members had helped accumulate ahead for us, plus sanitizing and laundering everything we brought back.

But, joyfully, it’s afforded the chance to Face Time at some length with our younger relatives who’ve been adapting to “going to school” remotely.

I find the Active 8 workout suggestion from an 11-year-old very hopeful - he does 25 reps of 8 different fitness activities. I’ll start with four.

A fitness trainer in my area has started teaching classes and individuals on ZOOM.

Another friend has always communicated with her university-age relatives through online Scrabble and Words With Friends.

If all this sounds Pollyanna-like about what’s actually a historic pandemic, my advice to Self is to get through it as best I can for as long as I can.

I urge you all to try to do the same. And stay connected.

If you live alone, contact any of the helping agencies and organizations in your city or community that are reaching out with information, networking, and ideas for living more sheltered-in-place than most of us have ever known.

The early signs of people everywhere hoarding goods and leaving bare shelves for others, were panic-driven.

Many of us are now recognizing that we’re in this together, that we can’t just give up, nor push to be the only one left.

That seems a way to invite the virus into your whole approach to life. Unacceptable.

Count your blessings, feed your humour and stay safe but mentally engaged with those you know and trust.

Read what inspires you, stay informed but don’t overdose on bad-news scenarios.

Avoid those who shame and blame people who are slow to accept the new rules… it’ll only take a few virus diagnoses to change that attitude. It’s really a matter for the authorities, not neighbours.

We all want the goal of survival to include coming out of all this without being spiritually destroyed.

 

I’m a single woman, 46, who was invited to dinner at a casual friend’s house three weeks ago.

It was just before we were advised to not be in crowds or socialize too closely.

I went and was surprised that the host, who’d mentioned inviting only eight people over, had invited 14!

Included was a woman I hadn’t met previously, who kept talking closely to my face and touching my arm. I was so uncomfortable that I made up an excuse to have to leave early.

Do I tell the host that he was much too casual about how his gathering could possibly harm his guests through spreading of the coronavirus?

Still Upset

No, that period has passed. The rules are spelled out clearly now. Sadly, there’ll always be some people who’ll avoid them. And that may prompt even stricter surveillance.

But self-protection is up to you. If a situation feels wrong, leave sooner than later.