Day #183 Writing Through COVID-19: Less Is More

We have now had 17 days of class. 

I've worn scrubs for 16 of those days.

Today I wore a dress.
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My son's girlfriend, a nurse, reinforced my idea to wear scrubs when school started. She said in her work she knows she comes in contact with germs throughout the day. She can whip off the scrubs, wash them in hot water, take a shower, and mitigate transferring germs to her home and loved ones. When I asked her if she thought I, a teacher, would benefit from scrubs, she said, "I think you can assume at some point. you'll be contaminated."

That gave me the go-ahead. I bought four pairs of Walmart scrubs and one fancy pair of Figs. They're incredibly comfortable. They match my no-fuss COVID persona.

But our positivity rate in the county is at 2.2%. 

And the weather report said we can expect cooler weather tomorrow.

And I have a summer dress I wore only once this year, to a ZOOM wedding back in June.

Can you see where I'm headed?

I set a new guide: If Cass County positivity rate is <5%, I'm wearing dresses! When we go above that, I'm back to scrubs. I will be a walking barometer of the Cass County COVID rate!

A dress!

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One of the tenets that has kept me from collapsing this past month is "Less is more. Simple is better." I am a teacher who usually spins as many plates as I possibly can. In the past, I figured the smashed plates were worth the ultimate success of the show.

However, this year, post-COVID (or should I say mid-COVID), I am keeping my lessons focused, minimizing homework, responding to student writing with a big heart and a very tiny red pen. Less is more. Simple is better.

I am determined to keep my eye on the must-dos rather than the should-dos and the want-to-dos.
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Then today I was approached with two more projects that I'd classify as "should-" or "want-to." The pre-COVID me would have said yes to both. The new me said wait, maybe.

This is a step in the right direction.

I'm realizing that the sanity- and health-saving measures I'm taking now are, in fact, long overdue. 

Less is more. 
Simple is better. 

Sometimes I marvel at how much I can, at age 60, still learn in a day.

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

Allison

Beautiful Wolf.