If there has been a personal positive result from the COVID-19 pandemic, and please know that I say this with the utmost sensitivity because I know this event has been so vicious to so many, it has been that my health has improved. Now I realize that statement in and of itself also sounds presumptuous given all the people who have fallen ill. But, because of social distancing and geographic factors, I have never felt better.

From March through today, I have not been sick once. As someone who develops a cold or allergies at the very least once every two months, it has been extremely nice to have lived in such physical comfort for the past 140 days. Especially since I view the symptoms that assault my immune system as particularly nasty (but doesn’t everyone?) I have tried not to take this reprieve for granted.

There really is something to be said about the effectiveness of social distancing. I attribute my longest clean bill of health in large part to the fact that I have just not been around people as much. Not reporting to an office each day or finding myself in the middle of crowds has done wonders for my health. To not have had a stuffy nose for five straight months is an amazing and refreshing feat for my body.

However, for those who think I am trying to push a political agenda with my personal success story of social distancing, I am not. Believe it or not, I also attribute my current favorable health to my physical location.

For nearly six years I fell victim to the allergens floating in the air in South Carolina. They beat my butt and made certain stretches in the spring very tough on me. Although Washington has its fair share of challenges for allergy sufferers, my body has never been impacted by them. For whatever reason, my system prefers the air of the Northwest to that of the South.

I hope that my body continues to take advantage of the current opportune conditions. At the same time, I think and pray for those who are struggling much more than I did pre-pandemic when I felt a cold was unbearable or allergies too intense. I definitely have it good now but I did back then as well. Don’t Blink.