{"id":1600,"date":"2021-09-10T18:47:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T22:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/?p=1600"},"modified":"2021-09-10T18:47:31","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T22:47:31","slug":"the-freedom-of-masking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/2021\/09\/10\/the-freedom-of-masking\/","title":{"rendered":"The freedom of masking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, if I were walking down a sidewalk next to trucks belching diesel, I had to breathe shallowly and mentally plan on the nausea and neuro-huckery that was likely to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I went shopping at Big Y — well, I couldn’t, because the massive bakery displays at both ends of the store could wipe me out in a heartbeat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was sadly giving up my Goodwill\/Salvation Army pillaging habits because the unquenchable stench they saturate the stuff with made me so sick it was harder and harder just to walk in there, and my de-stinking magic stopped working on fabrics. Sad sniffle\u2026 I used to get half my furniture from there, and most of my better clothes.\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I considered getting surgical masks, but I already knew how many leery looks & disparaging comments that public mask-wearing used to provoke. I try to avoid getting leery looks, because people are a lot less likely to be pleasant or helpful towards someone they’re leaning away from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then The Modern Pandemic hit, and everything changed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly two heartbreaking and traumatic years later, the message that this is the new reality is starting to take hold; testing and explanations of what makes a mask effective is available from legitimate labs and reputable sources; and I’ve made myself 2 custom-fitted, Isy-safe, well-made masks that are easy to clean and dry well overnight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colorful though they are, they just don’t stand out any more! Masks are part of the New Normal, and generally provoke smiles and friendliness instead of the opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, on today’s walk, I wound up surrounded by fuming traffic — and put my mask on. No problem. Then I went shopping at Big Y and went from end to end of the store — with my mask on. No problem. I was too tired to go to Goodwill today, but when I do go there, I put my mask on — and I don’t smell a thing until I get everything well outside and take my mask off. (I can still get the smell off of hard-surfaced things.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Mind you, it’s not like my own breath is a bucket of roses (!) — but it still smells way, way better than diesel, and it doesn’t make me sick!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It took awhile to realize it, but masks really set me free and make my *whole* world (not just the pandemic aspect) much, much safer and more comfortable to be in.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, if I were walking down a sidewalk next to trucks belching diesel, I had to breathe shallowly and mentally plan on the nausea and neuro-huckery that was likely to follow. When I went shopping at Big Y — well, I couldn’t, because the massive bakery displays at both ends of the store […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,70,2,5,69,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basics","category-covid-19","category-perspective","category-self-care","category-tools-and-techniques","category-what-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1601,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions\/1601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livinganyway.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}