• Transitioning my remaining work (entirely) online
• Navigating new Zoom meeting spaces and routines with my three pre-existing personal development groups
• Establishing new arrangements with friends to Zoom/Skype or telephone instead of meet in person
• Experimenting with sampling some of the vast array of online offerings in my mindfulness and Buddhist worlds.

This is what I’ve made of the extreme shift in my social, professional and educational lives so far:

• Anything virtual is second best to in person, making me appreciate even more the importance of presence, energy and full sensory experiencing of those with whom I seek connection
• Gratitude nevertheless for the option of continuing my relationships and activities online, and therefore maintaining contact with the world and my loved ones
• Wonder and gratitude for the generosity of so many organisations to offer online resources for free as ‘support to the world’
• Finding my time in the Zoomosphere remarkably intense and tiring due to the effort to compensate for a lack of physical presence
• Yearning for the physical contact of hugging and touching friends and family
• Grappling with overwhelm and FOMO (fear of missing out) in foregoing so many of the rich online offerings

 And this is what I’m learning so far: 

• I’m having to double up on embodied, grounded experiences to compensate for life as a somewhat ‘disembodied head’ online (walking in nature, meditating, cuddling my son and dog, baking bread, making small flower arrangements from my garden)
• Taking an emergent approach to my new routines and checking in with my friends periodically to see whether our arrangements are still working for them or need adjusting in light of our respective learning curves
• The importance of continually stepping back to assess what online activities nourish and sustain me and which don’t

I’m in no doubt that this pandemic is going to be a marathon rather than a sprint, and so I’m resigned to the reality that my external life will continue to be lived mostly in the Zoomosphere for some time.  Although it’s an ambivalent experience so far, I accept the challenge of making the most of the Zoomosphere whilst looking forward intensely to whatever physical interaction is once more available in a post Covid future.