Refocus on your dreams to beat coronavirus quarantine blues

There’s a new abnormal that I’m having a hard time adjusting to.

For instance, I used to space out the times when I went to my shop where I have all my tackle. I would sort my lures, clean up my boat and generally putter around wondering when I would be fishing again. After a couple of these trips, I’d actually reorganize the pile I had vowed to go through years ago. One down!

Nowadays, that strategy of procrastination doesn’t work. It was usually very convenient to have many “urgent” tasks waiting to get done that made putting things off an easy decision. I was good at it, and had relied on the tactic for a long time. Losing my No. 1 way to avoid the stuff I hated left me naked and afraid. Well, at least afraid!

I’ve also noticed how my mental set has changed over the whole quarantine. For example, I had a guy with a lot of nerve (so it seemed, lol) send me a picture of a big striper he caught last week. I thought about deleting the picture and unfriending him – how dare he send me a picture of a big striper when he knows I can’t fish, it’s not fair! The thought of returning the favor later left me feeling better. Besides, I knew he couldn’t help himself. We all have descended into fishing insanity.

Another weird twist has been how my normal “fishing buddy” calls sound these days. Normally I’m in contact with my guys once or twice a week, chewing the cud on what the bite has been like, fishing observations and our forecasts. These calls are usually exciting preludes to our next fishing adventure.

The only topic lately, of course, has been, “What have you heard on a reopening?” We usually take all our premonitions, hunches, weather forecasts and frustrations and put them into one pile. Sort of like an impromptu grief share meeting. Since we don’t have any current reports, once we cover all that we don’t know, we’re forced to go domestic with our conversation. I found out one of my buddies had several kids I was unaware existed – and they’re in college. I even learned their names.

My wife Elaine even talked me into planting some geraniums and a rose bush. It was like pulling teeth, but I survived.

I’m a go-getter kind of guy, like most of you, so waiting isn’t my strong suit. (It’s not my style but I may have to go bluegill fishing soon – yikes!)

What can we do? I believe it’s back to the fundamentals. Refocus on your dreams. Be your best self in spite of the temptation to be angry. Never give up!

This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Refocus on your dreams to beat coronavirus quarantine blues."