Life in lockdown

It got real. It got real, real fast.

Just last week life was sort of normal-ish. New normal-ish, but still close to normal-ish. And then Norway closed.

- Norway is currently actively encouraging people that travel to Norway as tourists / visitors  to turn around,
- All schools and universities are closed,
- People that live in Norway are urged to avoid any non-essential travel,
- Cafes and restaurants are only allowed to serve food if they can offer seating that is at the appropriate distance (and non-buffet style),
- People that have a cabin in another district than where they live are urged not to visit their cabin just now. They can actually be forced to return home by the police should they chose to come to their cabin at all,
- All training- and fitness centres are closed,
- All massage parlours, beauty salons and hair dressers are closed,
- All swimming pools and the like are closed,
- All planned sports events for the coming months are cancelled, as are all the cultural events,
And I am pretty sure that this list is not extensive as new measures are taken pretty much every hour of the day.

These weeks are not the most prosperous weeks to work in the travel industry. You read about people being urged or even forced to take unpaid leave for at least a few weeks to give their companies a bit more financial leeway to cope with the current situation.

Don´t get me wrong. I totally understand that drastic measures need to be taken and I am glad that they did. Of course, I will refrain from non-essential travel as long as is deemed necessary plus I will stay at home as long as needs be to minimize the risk of contamination. Because, even though I am not over 70, I still fall in the group that runs an extra risk because of my chemo therapy.

I am lucky to work for a company that is in good financial health. Not only a great company to work for, but also a smart company with the financial backing to be able to carry on during the next couple of weeks. However seen as travel is not a top priority for people in general right now, it does mean that currently there are not a lot of new enquiries coming in and with that in mind, I have made the choice to actually go on 100% sick leave as per now.

If I am really completely honest with myself, maybe I should have done so way earlier. And a few of you might actually say at this point "told you so" or "totally saw this coming". Maybe I should have followed the advise of my doctor and many of my friends way earlier. Maybe I should have gone on 100% sick leave directly after Marco died, to give myself time to cope with the new reality, to understand the implications of our new normal, time to heal: not only my body but also my mind.

I have been carrying on ever since 18 January. And in a way I am glad I did. My survival instinct kicked in and made me carry on. Carry on with life, creating our new normal. It was my way of surviving those very intense and painful first weeks of being alone. To cope with being without my one and only. And you know, with the outpouring of love from all around and practical support from my friends at work and here in the village I have done an OK job of carrying on, if I do say so myself.

But now the time has come to heal. I will use these next few weeks to really look after myself and of course Mik and Ylva. I will yoga my ass off, get my hair back, talk to the oncologist and take more and more long walks with both Mik and Ylva.

And wash my hands, a lot of times per day.