I should have been a psychologist. A psychologist is someone who studies human behavior. I like to watch people and study their behavior. Witnessing human behavior during this corona-virus pandemic has been very interesting to me.

Everyday I am listening to the news, reading social media posts, talking with family and friends, and it astonishes me how different we are in our beliefs and actions when it comes to this pandemic. Examples are, people that wear a mask and gloves and people that don’t. People that stay at home and people that don’t. Washing your hands, cleaning your surfaces, not touching your face and practicing social distancing. What amazes me is how one person can be so concerned about safety and protection and another person be just the opposite and then some are in between. This fascinates me.

I like to think I have an open mind, I’ll listen to you and if I disagree with you I’m alright with that. Let me tell you about my thoughts and my actions during this pandemic. I’ll let you judge my behavior. Please don’t send me a text or email if you disagree with me but here are some observations I’ve made about human behavior during this pandemic.

I’m an extrovert and I have no problem walking into a grocery store filled with people during this pandemic, while some introverted friends of mine find going into a grocery store or a big box store very stressful and will avoid doing that. I saw a post recently that said introverts are enjoying the stay at home order. So who’s right or wrong here? How you process information about the corona-virus from news, visiting with friends and family or your doctor will determine your behavior.

I have changed my behavior during this pandemic. I am washing my hands often, I am very aware of people that get too close to me. I have hand sanitizer on my desk now and am using it constantly. I clean surfaces at work with Lysol. I have wipes in my car, cleaning my steering wheel. I refuse to touch a door knob with my bare hands. These are behaviors that I have incorporated into my life and I would like to think I will continue to do this after this nightmare is over. I ask myself why am I doing this and the answer is that I am trying to protect myself and others from getting the deadly virus. Now some people don’t even think about what I am thinking about or doing. Our behavior is very different.

Something that was very hard for me the other day was seeing a high school classmate and a good friend, she lost her mother this week and I was not able to give her a hug. I am a hugger! That was hard for both of us. Another friend from the cities was in town and not being able to shake his hand with a greeting was strange human behavior for me. It felt awkward, but we all did our social distancing.

Why are we so different in our behavior when in a crisis? I find it very interesting. So I’ll end with this. This is how I am handling the pandemic. I will continue to wash my hands often. I rarely wear a mask, but should wear it all the time. I will gather with a small group of people while practicing social distancing, I will hug you if you want one. Now some of you are freaking out about my behavior and some of you agree with me! Isn’t that interesting? Human behavior is fascinating. Something that we all can do is to be kind to each other and respect other peoples behavior.