2020 introduced folks to a different type of ‘wait-loss’
By BETH DOW, Senior Living Advice
2020 is not only going to be remembered as the year of COVID-19; it is also going to go down as the year of ‘wait loss.’
Every time I call a phone number for help, I get the same message, “Due to COVID-19 we are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Your call is important to us” … but you are going to have to wait anyway. And we wait.
We have had COVID around for a year now and have been hearing this message for the same amount of time. So, isn’t the ‘higher than normal’ call volume, now, normal? If these companies really did care about my call and my wait loss, they would have hired appropriately for their now, normal call volume. Right?
I heard a news clip the other day about the most listened to musical artist that no one knew. It was the guy that writes hold music!
Yes, 2020 has been the year of wait loss.
We have waited on calls, waited to see loved ones, waited to see our hairdresser, waited to go to the gym, waited to go to a restaurant, and waited to go see our doctor. We lost so much time in 2020 just waiting. That loss that we experienced in 2020, we will not get back. It is gone.
I have friends who have lost loved ones. That time they lost, that time spent waiting, they will never get back.
We all did what we had to do. What we were told to do. We did what we each felt was best for us, our families, and our communities. And we need to keep doing just that, but we have got to get out of this wait-loss mode. Get the vaccine if that choice is right for you. Don’t get the vaccine if you don’t feel it is right for you. But either way, wear your mask, wash your hands and social distance… but don’t social isolate. Start moving forward with your life.
If you want to go to the gym … Go! It is safe. I go to the Y. They are taking all the precautions to make it a healthy and safe environment. If you want to go eat at your favorite restaurant … Go! It is safe. Especially now with it warming up so you can eat outside. And if you want to go see your loved one … Go! There are too many loved ones that didn’t make it through 2020, and there will be more that will not make it through 2021. Don’t wait it out. They may not be here when the wait is over. You can still see a loved one, while abiding by all the suggested safety protocols.
Don’t let 2021 be a year of loss as we wait. Let’s put a stop to our wait loss.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Beth Dow is a Dementia and Alzheimer’s Educator, CAEd and Geriatric Care Manager. Readers can contact her at [email protected].
