With the COVID-19 curve not as flat as medical experts had hoped, we entered the last full season of 2020 with many of the anxieties and worries we faced in March. Over time, we’ve sought to make the most of virtual gatherings to connect for everything from social events to professional undertakings. And for most, we’ve stayed put. Not venturing too far from home. Exercising safe measures for our well-being and that of others.
As a single professional working from home, I’ve personally faced the range of emotions around deciding whether to travel during COVID-19.
Do I put myself and potentially others at risk by traveling?
Is my desire to see loved ones in-person, as opposed to through a computer screen, selfish and irresponsible?
And if I go, how do I get there with minimal exposure to others?
Have you found yourself in the same dilemma?
Come May, I was cancelling pre-booked flights that airlines kept shuffling around. However I couldn’t ignore a nudge in my heart. A voice spurring me to not completely abandon my plan to travel home and surprise my Dad for Father’s Day. After several months apart, I start to long for these times with family. They ground me and fill my heart with joy and gratitude. I hadn’t seen my Dad since Christmas, and I really wanted to go…
So now the barrage of questions came flooding in…Do I fly or drive? Stay at a hotel or seek a host? Travel over two days or three? Take this route or that one? Researching how airlines and hotels were adapting to the times and tracking case numbers and quarantine regulations for every state on my route became a daily practice. I found myself praying very specific prayers and seeking advice on if it was even wise to go home and potentially put my family’s health at risk. A decision that seemingly took little-to-no thought just a few months prior was now consuming most of my energy and playing at my heart strings.
As I wrestled with making ‘the most responsible’ decision, I repeated one of my favorite scriptures, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
These ponderings led me to find out from other disciples what had them traveling during these unique times and how they came to their decision. And I discovered I wasn’t alone in the back and forth of thoughts, emotions and decisions around traveling during a global pandemic.
