As I write this post, TGS students have begun their Spring Break, and the faculty aren’t far behind, with only grade reports and other administrative odds and ends to complete. We are all ready for a well-deserved rest.
Which has me thinking about fatigue. COVID has prompted a lot of talk about fatigue these days. Mask fatigue. Zoom fatigue. We are all tired of the restrictions we’ve endured as a result of the pandemic. As people are now getting vaccinations, we want to rip off our masks, see each other face-to-face, eat dinner in a restaurant, and give each other hugs, for Pete’s sake!
It might take us more than we realize to ramp up to whatever might serve as normal in the future. For over a year we’ve hunkered down in our homes, avoided potentially infectious circumstances, changed our ways of interacting, and kept to ourselves. Here at TGS we’ve worn masks, kept our desks six feet apart, learned in pods, and held classes outside whenever possible. Now that these actions have become habits, we might have hesitations about returning to our old lifestyles, as much as we may want to. We will probably have internal checks about going someplace where people aren’t wearing masks. We might hesitate to go to someplace where we might literally touch elbows with someone.
Perhaps I am more sensitive to this because of our student population. Our neurodiverse learners generally engage in behavior change more slowly than their neurotypical peers. They usually are good at following rules; they thrive with structure. Many of them also experience anxiety due to their sensitive natures. All of these characteristics affected them as we developed our COVID protocols for their education, and these characteristics will affect the shift that is coming as the globe gets a handle on COVID and allows for lifestyle changes.
The onramp to a new normal is coming. We plan to signal early, and slowly press the gas pedal, heeding the signs as we approach them. We’ve all been asking “when do we get there?” The answer is, as Mr. Incredible says in the movie The Incredibles, “we get there when we get there.” Until we do, we continue to wait, to honor the fatigue, and to rest and nurture ourselves as needed.
Happy Spring Break! We hope to see you well rested and happy on the other side.