Gifts of COVID-19
Desert Breeze, acrylic on canvas. All original art/Marya Shegog.
By Marya Shegog
Globally COVID-19 has ravaged humanity. It is not the first pandemic although it is the first that many of us have experienced. It sadly has brought death, unemployment, economic distress, and a redefining of life as we know it. It has been tough but through it all there have been these subtle gifts that have to be recognized to honor the time and not go crazy.
1. Making a House a Home
I finally get to utilize my home. Here in America, we work so hard to make our houses what we can and what we want. However, that usually entails going to work and working hard. Followed by short bouts of sleep, happy hours with friends, and then, after you are burnt out, a vacation away to relax and rejuvenate from it all. Now that we have experienced quarantine, working from home and not going out I have gotten to know my house like a new friend. I have taken the opportunity to check off the list some of the repairs that need to be done. I have taken staycations in the guest room, and I have made my house a home. That is a gift. I would not have done this at this speed or intention without COVID-19 and the quarantine.
The Phoenix, acrylic on canvas.
2. Shorter Commute
My commute to work used to be between 25-40 minutes according to time of day and traffic. After my commute it would take about 30 minutes to find a parking space. Now my commute is a whopping 30 seconds to five minutes according to what I need to prepare to take into my home office. I get to sleep a bit later and still be on time to work. I also can drink my coffee in one of my numerous ceramic mugs instead of a travel mug, and I have time to fix and sometimes eat breakfast before heading off to work. The diminished time in my car is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only have I saved money on gas and car maintenance, my car stays cleaner and has received no more dings from the packed parking lots at work.
Ocean Flow, acrylic on canvas.
3. Laundry
I am not sure how many people are like me but I am not the best at completely doing my laundry. I get it washed and dried but the process of getting it folded, hung, and put away may not occur until I need the basket to move the clothes around the house. Now that we have experienced quarantine my work “uniform” has changed. All the delicate clothing remains in my closet and off the drying rack. I often find that I do not have a need to do laundry every week; it is more like every two to three weeks. I already have an extensive collection of yoga and pajama pants and with the option of leaving the camera off during video meetings I just don’t wear as many clothes as I used to. The gift is I create less laundry so I have to wash less and even better put away less.
Grandma’s Love, acrylic on canvas.
4. Sparking Creativity
Having numerous hours at home and access to the internet has ignited my creativity and given me time to actually explore and create in a way that I have not done since I was a child. The local art store and I have become such good friends with curbside pick-up. The time I used to spend in the car learning about all the things I did not have time to do now I spend researching and doing. Although there may be some splashes of paint on my floors, I also have pictures to hang in my house and to gift to others. It brings me joy, and the finished product is pretty cool too.
Uncompromising Flower, acrylic on canvas.
5. Funeral Attendance
The stench of death is ever present during this time. There have not been too many weeks where I have not received the news that someone, COVID-19 related or not, has died. It is truly heartbreaking. From family members, close friends to Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, and Charley Pride, so many passed away in 2020. Tears have flowed. COVID-19 has given the gift of online funerals, and I can attend from my home. This allows me to support and virtually be with my family and friends during an extremely hard time. For some of the funerals I would have traveled. Others, I simply would not have had the resources or taken the time to attend. Although sitting at my computer with tears running down my face may not be the most beautiful expression it allows me to mourn, and I don’t even have to get dressed up for a homegoing service. I also have found that by texting loved ones I see in the audience I can give comforting words and connect in ways I would not have been able to if I was there in person. I may not be able to provide that hug or prepare a meal and take care of those who are mourning, but I have gotten to attend services and actively explored new and different ways to support those who are mourning along with me. That is a gift.
COVID-9 Thief, acrylic on canvas.
6. Popping the Giant Racism Pimple on the Ass of the United States
As an African American woman who has lived all over the United States I cannot count the number of times I have experienced racism, bias, sexism, and violence towards me simply because of my gender and color. Throughout this COVID-19 quarantine, life has been televised, leaving me feeling as if I’m inside a exploding pressure cooker experience. Because we were home, because we were forced to watch a George Floyd die, over and over again at the knees of the police, hear about the brutal shooting of Breonna Taylor, and watch the manhunt that ended Ahmaud Arbery’s life, racial equity and justice became a topic from which the country could no longer stray. Social media transported all of us to too many moments where life was ending. It slapped me in the face and forced me to do more than talk about the inequities. The gift of COVID-19 was bringing social, racial, and gender injustice to the forefront and providing time and space to talk, plan, and strategize a more just and equitable United States.
Be Still My Heart, acrylic on canvas.
7. School without Loans
I am a professional student. I enjoy learning, appreciate honest and open discourse, and enjoy increasing skills. Before COVID-19, I had extraordinarily little time to even think of and locate an online course for fun, much less afford it. With the advent of quarantine and online learning, there was an abundance of courses I took at little or no cost. I took courses on writing fiction, happiness, generational wealth creation, and the business of marijuana. Each course was different and challenged me to tap into a different aspect of myself. I am not saying I wrote a book or started a new business but now I know how! The gift is exploration without financial obligations, and I will do it again.
Golden Chalice, acrylic on canvas.
8. Becoming a Better, Voting Citizen
The quarantine and being at home more also resulted in becoming a more informed, and possibly a better, voter. I had the time to explore the multitude of candidates and issues presented and determine where I stood and vote accordingly. Additionally, in Nevada, early voting has been challenged a multitude of times, but in all honesty, one day voting is an archaic system that simply did not work in the Las Vegas community. With the onset of COVID-19 and the quarantine, the barriers to voting were reduced even more by allowing every registered voter to vote absentee, without the threat of their vote not being counted. Being able to sit down with my ballot and my computer, voting became a seamless process. I don’t like standing in lines, but I am very dedicated to the democratic process and making sure I do not ignore the responsibilities that so many of my ancestors fought for. So, I vote. I took my ballot to a voting station, but I did not have to stand in the line, get surprised that I had not the necessary information to vote on all the items, or face the onslaught of canvassers at my door or at the polling station. The gift of improving my access and ability to vote was something that would not have occurred without COVID-19 and the quarantine.
COVID-19 is awful. It has forced each one of us to limit our living and rethink our normal. It is not over yet, and masks will be a part of our lives for a long time. But time did not stand still, and I cannot get it back so I have to find value in the moments lived in isolation and in quarantine. The silver linings or platinum parachute, in these otherwise tumultuous times, are the gifts. I cannot say that I laughed everyday, but I did find reasons to laugh. No one had to look for reasons to cry but realizing the good things to come out of this time and just simply surviving it when so many I know and loved did not is the ULTIMATE GIFT.
Dr. Marya Shegog is a proud resident of southern Nevada. She is dedicated to ensuring the voice, experiences, and data of the resilient, disenfranchised, and oppressed people in the United States is in the forefront of health discussions. Dr. Shegog continually strives for community centered actions and the development of equitable health policy, legislation and regulations throughout the United States. Her experience includes creating numerous community-based participatory programs, research, and evaluation, and she is active on several local, regional, and national organizations board of directors. Dr. Shegog continues to explore novel avenues to improve health outcomes. Fundamentally, Dr. Shegog believes that through research, policy, and action health equity can and will be achieved.
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