As I wade through my everyday life activities in the 7th month of the pandemic crisis, I have noticed a shift in the general demeanor of the people around me. Over the last few weeks, as I have stood in line to get into Walmart, or shopped at my local grocery store, I have noticed a trend of emotions moving away from fear and shifting towards adaptation and resilience. Although my observation is completely subjective, it brings me hope of good things to come.
Throughout these past months, my observational assessment of the emotions of people around me have zoned in on reading eyes, eyebrows, voice tones and body language. Masks cannot hide these aspects of expression. It is something like learning to squint my eyes to see small print, I can still see, but I must work a little harder to decipher the words!
Months ago, as the pandemic emerged, I noticed a sense of fear, urgency and anxiety in the people I encountered. I witnessed bunched brows and widened eyes of fear, but today, these have been replaced by prominent crow’s feet and the twinkling eyes of smiles. The urgent pace of the past has now been slowed, and closed body language has shifted to openness and acceptance.
“Reading people” and taking note their state of health and well-being comes second nature to me. Making a clinical assessment is one of the first lessons I learned in nursing school. This foundational training taught my mind to think in clinical terms, to assess the patient’s overall state-of-health. As a result, I use my “nurse brain” thinking to assess everyone all the time!!
Please do not get the wrong idea here, it is not that I take a person’s pulse as I am shaking their hand (and it’s not because I am not shaking hands during this pandemic), it is more subtle than this. My eye naturally scans for signs of health or illness, from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. In an instant my nurse brain has already checked the person’s fluid balance, air exchange, electrolyte balance, emotional state, mobility level and even quality-of-life. It is kind of crazy, but it is true!
What I have noticed lately, of my fellow shoppers in line at Walmart, point to signs of acceptance, adaptation, and resiliency. Of course, this conclusion is purely subjective, but I am excited non-the-less! I will continue scanning the people around me for signs of advancing recovery. Perhaps crow’s feet that have turned to permanent wrinkles due to excessive smiling! In the meantime, I am happy to see the current signs of hope and healing. The masks are no longer a boundary that holds us back. We are starting to live beyond our masks. It is a very good sign indeed!!