Dot’s Dish #5: Penny for your Thoughts
Photo Courtesy of Dorothy Cook
By Dorothy Cook
My brain is all over the place. I’m thinking about the assignments I have due, work, my relationships, missing my family, and the future of the world in the midst of all of the chaos going on right now. I am overwhelmed with life, but louder than any of the other worries I can hear screaming that the world is crashing down around me is the voice saying, “You’re almost there”.
I am a junior in college. I only have three more semesters left of school until I’m thrown headfirst into the “real world” where I’ll be expected to get a job and pay for everything on my own. I am so close. I’m so close to being a teacher, so close to having my own classroom, so close to living my dream.
My life as an adult is about to start, and I am so ready for it. I know that in five or ten years I’ll kick myself for not living in the moment as the crazy 19 year old I am (I’ve had some pretty wild times with a tub of mocha ice cream and hulu at 3 a.m.), but I don’t care. All I can think about right now is how I am so close to living the life I have always wanted for myself, and that’s enough for me. It’s enough for me to realize that I am on the path that God has planned for me, whether I like it or not. It’s enough for me to think, “Everything is going to work out for me in the long run, even if things suck right now.”
If we keep dwelling in how horrible things are right now, man… that’s a downer. I get it, I really do. Having a twenty foot Q-tip shoved into the back of your brain because you have a tickle in your throat that may be a cold or may be this scary virus is not a fun time. This virus has killed people, put people out of jobs, and thrown the world into a ball of crazy. But, (and there is always a but), it has actually done the world some good.
Here are your research based facts about the good that COVID-19 has brought to the world:
- We are experiencing the lowest levels of air pollution since World War 2.
- With less traffic and human movement in general, animals have come out of hiding and returned to areas they had left. Bobcats have been seen in areas of California where they haven’t been seen in years. (However, the trash pandas are not impressed with their locally sourced restaurant feasts being so abruptly reduced).
- With transportation being responsible for 23% of global carbon emissions and 11% of those emissions attributed to airplanes, it’s safe to say that the decrease of international travel has drastically reduced CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions.
My point is that we can’t keep dwelling on how horrible things are right now. We have to keep our heads up and realize that somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue and that grey skies are gonna clear up and we should put on a happy face. For me, it’s thinking about how I am so close to achieving my dreams. For others, it might be thinking about that calzone you’ve been excited for all day, or getting to play that new video game with your buddies later on. Find something else, anything else, to focus your time and attention on besides the bad things because if all we focus on is the bad, the good times are going to pass us by. I’m no Yoda, but that’s some pretty good advice if you ask me. I’m running out of room on my advice pillow, it’s time for an advice t-shirt.
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/06/25/covid-19-impacts-climate-change/
