Making a list is a powerful coping mechanism. It’s a mind clearer and a thought organizer. It’s definitely a welcome activity after watching all those old movies. It’s something I’ve been working on in bed while I knit, and I can recommend the process. Writing it down makes it real. My list is of things I’m seeing in new ways as a result of having this altered-time experience, courtesy of the pandemic.

Sooner or later, this crisis will end, and we will have been changed by it in ways we are just beginning to notice. We seniors have always learned from the challenges that have come our way and from having survived thus far. That’s how we got here, still alive and thinking, if kicking less vigorously, as we experience yet another opportunity for growth and development. So far, I am finding that my lens has shifted or expanded on the following:

Wellness. Personal health and wellness take on a new aspect in the context of the pandemic, with its daily review of casualties, and the anxiety, fear, and our commitment to the larger community’s health that assures our staying “locked in.” Scheduled routine visits to doctors and dentists are canceled or postponed indefinitely by their offices. Complaints that might have sent us to Urgent Care or at least spurred a call to the doctor are tolerated or even ignored. Wellness is signified by the ability to cope in place and trust that eventually it will be measured as it used to be.

Distance. It is now an automatic six feet and no closer when I see a neighbor or go into a market. It’s “social” and “physical,” and sometimes “emotional,” but no longer ever abstract, always defined, and more frequently mentioned or discussed.

Communication. Oh, the changes! Not only are we Zooming and FaceTiming for ease of talking together and compensating for the absence of seeing other people as we remain tucked in our shelters, but another skill has developed: eye-reading! Before the masks, how rarely we looked so intently into other people’s eyes and searched for meaning. Now it happens at every opportunity to visit the market or pharmacy. (“I can tell the cashier is smiling!” or, “ Uh-oh! I’d better get out of his way!”)

Activism. Staying home and just biding my time has suddenly become a valued form of activism. The fact that staying in is a vital contribution to the general welfare when so many others are facing danger on our behalf completely alters our view. It’s a reminder that activism takes so many forms and really depends on the meaning of the act.

Downsizing. It has come to mean more than getting rid of old stuff, although plenty of that is going on these days as closet and drawer contents are being pruned. Now “downsizing” also suggests that in this newly challenging and defining time, it’s not only material things that are being jettisoned. Even long-held ideas and beliefs are being questioned and peeled away to reveal core values as we question institutions and the judgments of leaders. Perhaps this mirrors scientists’ search for the root of the virus.

Community. What was identified primarily as any of the various groups to which we belong: neighborhood, religion, nationality, gender, etc., now feels more useful as the description of a feeling. It signifies not just the kinship felt with our groups, but the sense of unity we feel with everyone who is experiencing the same life-changing event.

Time. Its shape has definitely been altered. Often. We can’t tell if the day will seem short or long, or whether our attempts at structure will work. Enough or too much time for introspection? And how do we feel about the ways we use it?

Creating a checklist is a worthwhile activity in itself, but of course it raises questions that are unanswerable right now. When we emerge from this sequestration, how will the world look? How many changes will have become habits, as with distancing and less casual physical contact or increased communication via Zoom and Skype? Will we keep the sense of kinship with the larger community? Will we continue the “downsizing” of material things and superficial ideas? Will we appreciate the fact that our own contribution to overcoming an existential threat has been significant?

What’s on your list?