April 22, 2020 - 222 - "Covid Declares War on Little White Lies!"

What's Your Excuse?

     The problem with this isolation thing is you don't have any excuse for not doing something.  From household chores, to a Zoom Chat with friends, you have to state your own personal preference.  And that might not be pleasant for you to say, or someone else to hear. 

     I mean, in this era of isolation where can you say you 'have to be' instead?

"Being Busy" Won't Cut It Anymore

     Excuses used to be so easy.  Perfectly pleasant excuses.  Excuses that everyone understood, and no one was offended by.

      There were a million reasons why you were "so busy!"  

      We all spent our entire lives in a state of unrelenting busy-ness.

      Now what can you say?  I've been running the kids to all their million activities?  (Buzzer sound.)

The boss made me stay late?  (Mmmm...not nearly as likely as it used to be.). Running errands?  Maybe you did have to make three tries to get toilet paper...but how often do non-hoarders really have to shop for this product?

     But don't worry.  I'm here for you.  As a natural-born avoider of humanity I've already thought of a few possibilities...

Making Excuses in Times of Social Distancing

      If it's a Zoom or FaceTime chat that you want to avoid it's pretty tricky.   For pre-planned sessions, it's hard to say you can't fit something into your schedule.  

     You could say you have another Zoom chat.  (A good choice would be:  "I have a chat scheduled with a group of concerned citizens trying to make our city safer.", for example.  But don't say you're "going to re-watch the Super Bowl from 1996." unless you're talking to a fellow sports fan...who likes the same team as you.)

     You could try saying you can't manage the technology and you always avoid those things...but it might come out that you are chatting with everyone else on the planet except this person.  

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     Unplanned phone calls on the other hand are a little easier.   Consider some of the following:  

I didn't hear the phone because...

   -My phone was dead.

   -My phone was downstairs on the charger.

   -I was blow-drying my hair.

   -We had the TV up too loud.  (Be prepared to say what newscast, or quality programming you were         watching.)

   -I was taking a nap.  I'm really tired today because I was up all night worried about your health.

     Avoid any mention of your own health.  (I was tired.  I'm not feeling great today...) This will only increase the number of calls you have to avoid.)

The Good News

     All of this isolation might make you enjoy long chats on the phone or screen more than you ever did.  I've actually looked forward to a few of these calls.  

    It might be the same for you.  Instead of being constantly inundated with interactions...you might suddenly be starved for some conversation!

Happy Socializing!  

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"If isolation tempers the strong, it is the stumbling-block of the uncertain."

-Paul Cezanne

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"No one can live entirely on their own, nor can any country or society exist in isolation."

-Daisaku Ikeda 

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"If I could read while I was driving showering, socializing or sleeping, I would do it."

-Elizabeth Gilbert 

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