I visited India a couple of years ago. Before I left, a couple of my friends told me that it was a matter of “when” and not “if” I would get the dreaded Delhi Belly.

I was given all the top tips:

• Don’t put ice in your water.
• Don’t eat the ice cream.
• Only eat at the hotels.
• Don’t buy bottled water from street vendors because it’s probably old water.
• Don’t drink the milky tea from the big metal urns.
• Don’t eat the street food,
• Don’t eat the food on any of the train services.
• Only eat vegetarian food.

I arrived in India full of vigilance and followed all the rules. It was no fun, and I felt like I was living in a bubble when everyone around me was on a different fun planet. About two weeks into my trip, I dropped my guard and got adventurous. It has been over 15 years now, but I still remember the restaurant. I ordered some kind of chicken dish off the menu, it tasted fine, but I remember thinking something seemed off. That night I was terribly sick and ended up feeling ill and bilious for the rest of my stay in India. I probably lost about 5kgs.

I can relate this story to the current shelter in place order. We have been in the lockdown for the last few weeks, and I can feel all of us starting to relax a bit and get cockier. Handwashing isn’t as vigilant, groups of two people are becoming groups of three, etc. We are craving contact and human connections, which means stepping out of the bubble.

The virus isn’t cocky, and it doesn’t drop its guard. It justs waits patiently. We beat this thing if we persist and don’t let up.

Hard choice, easy life. Easy choice, hard life. Let’s make the hard choices now and get through this.

Photo by Maksim Larin on Unsplash