SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

By Judy Goddess

Suggestions for coping in these difficult times when classes, activities, and events have been shut down and those of us who are older are being strongly encouraged to stay home.

1. Reach out. Connect with your friends and relatives. Make a call. You and a few friends might want to start a phone tree where you call each other every day.
2. Enroll in an online class.  coviaconnections@covia.orgoffers free virtual conversations, classes, support groups via phone or online 365 days/year. Class examples include: book club, concerts from the couch, garden talk, tech and culture, Socrates Café, etc. They also offer a daily gratitude group, which many of their members find helpful. Covia also matches volunteers and older adults by phone or online for one on one support.

Offer to teach a class. Many of Covia’s classes are taught by volunteers. Maybe you have a subject you’d like to teach. This is the time to try it.

https://covia.org   (click Well-Connected; scroll down to current catalog/registration form), or call  1-877-797-7299

3. Is there a museum you want to visit? Take a virtual tour of a museum. This site presents 12 famous museums throughout the world and takes you on a virtual tour of each.  Examples include British Museum in London, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.  Even if you visited these museums in the past, it is a refreshing return.  You may never get there, but an afternoon looking at art lifts the blues.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online

4. Challenge your brain. Take a free online course from an Ivy League University.

https://qz.com/1263050/here-are-300-free-ivy-league-university-courses-you-can-take-online-right-now/

5. Want to talk to someone about your feelings? Call the IOA Friendship Line: 1-800-971-0016, or the Mental Health Association’s Peer-Run Warm Line: 1-855-845-7415.
6. PBS offers exercise programs from 6 to 8 a.m. My favorite is Classical Stretch by Miranda Esmonde White at 7:30 a.m.
7. And as though we could forget, remember to wash, wash and wash your hands. I’m getting tired of the alphabet song and humming ‘happy birthday’ and have started to challenge myself with math problems. Most of them take far more than a minute to answer!

If you want to add your suggestions to this list, write or call me: judygoddess@gmail.com, 1-415-759-1994.

Judy Goddess is a reporter with sfseniorbeat.com.

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