I am living in slow motion here in my little house. Everything has come to a grinding halt, and like everyone, I am spending an inordinate amount of time staring at screens: iPhone, laptop, television. Yoga practice comes through a screen; my meditation experiences begin through an app, and now my social experiences? People are ZOOMing happy hours, getting the brief respite a friendly face can bring.

I worry over it, even as a sit in front of this keyboard, reading and writing for hours at a time. Is this the way we are to live? Barefoot and in our robes at 2:30 in the afternoon, looking out at the world, the COVID19 numbers, and thinking about what comes next? “It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” say the experts.

I might seem glum, but in truth, the smiling, super-productive people worry me. (I don’t begrudge anyone the fact that they got dressed. I could be taking things a little too far today.) It’s just that this is no time to be posting things on social media that makes it seem like the good times just don’t stop, and that stock-piled hand-sanitizer and toilet paper are going to carry us through unscathed. People are dying. In New York City, they are putting the dead in refrigerated trucks.

There is a purposeful way to live in a world rendered eerie and unrecognizable by a virus we cannot stop. For me, I think it involves getting off screens for a sizable part of the day.

Strange thing to be saying on the day that I resurrect my blog.