The Nose -Pickers and Personal Hygiene Observations

The Nose-Pickers and Personal Hygiene Observations

What’s going on right now, I don’t need to name. Let’s call it “the virus”. If we say “the virus people will know what we’re talking about. There are business closures, people are home from work and get to know what it’s like to be “home with the kids”, and we’re following social/ physical distancing measures. If you’re dating right now, you know it’s a weird time to be doing that. And some people are not washing their hands regularly. I’ve been thinking about it, and of course I have comments about all of this mostly relating to personal hygiene.

You don’t want to get a virus, do you? I don’t either, so here are some tips on how to avoid getting a virus. Here are some of the don’ts:

• Don’t touch your face (you’re hearing this one a lot, aren’t you?)
• Don’t rub your eyes (no mask is going to protect you if you rub your filthy hands over your eyes)
• Don’t stick your fingers in your mouth (or anything else for that matter, other than food and things used to eat food)
• Don’t pick your nose.

I’d like to spend a little bit of time on this last one. Even the grown-ups are not immune to this habit. If you have this habit (yes, I’m talking to you – you know who you are), now’s a good time to stop and you’ve got a good reason to stop. The virus can get in this way.

While I was writing this, I was wondering: “Is there a ‘nose-pickers anonymous’”. I decided there couldn’t be because despite the fact that the nose-pickers believe they are being inconspicuous about their gold-mining operations, we can all see what’s going on. And don’t think your car will save you. Your windows are see through. That means all you texters/tik-tokers/video-chatters/people-who-can’t-keep their-hands-off their-gps-ers and drivers out there, I can see you too.

I also thought about where does the nose-picker put their “gold”? Once you’ve found it, where to do you put it? Mull over that one for a while.

During this crisis, we’re finding out just how gross we humans generally are.

Wash Your Hands

There are some out there who are learning how to wash their hands for the first time. Let’s hope and pray it’s not their last time. I’m so proud of these people, and I’m glad that I washed my hands after shaking theirs. Proper hand-washing is very important – you need to wash both hands. Hand-sanitizer is a supplement to hand-washing, not a substitute for it. It says so right on the bottle.

So, you probably wondering when to wash your hands. What you’re hearing is “wash your hands for 20 seconds and do so frequently”. How frequently? There are many situations when it’s advisable to wash your hands. Here are a few examples:

• After using the bathroom
• After taking out the garbage/ recycling
• After returning from the grocery store (remember the nose-pickers)
• After touching your face (because I know you forgot already), or touching someone else’s face (or before touching someone else face, or just don’t touch anyone else’s face)
• After handling your phone because you’ve been holding it in your filthy hands all day
• After touching your partner (romantic or otherwise in case you don’t know where they’ve been, or because you do know where they’ve been)
• Before eating

So, what about washing your face? Yes, do that too. Please maintain personal hygiene practices. Basically, all of the things your mother told you to do when you were a kid. Just because you don’t live with her anymore doesn’t mean you get to stop.

No Kissing Strangers

As much as you might like to, this is not a good idea, and in my opinion it never was. You don’t  want what they’ve got, no matter what it is (until you know what it is and then you can decide for yourself). You may even be sure that they “definitely have something” , and you want to figure out whether it’s the good kind of contagious or not.

Physical Distancing

There are some of us who have been waiting for the world to catch up with us on this: Introverts (who don’t like strangers) and people who don’t like people (not introverts, they just don’t like anybody).

Certain restrictions going on right now including physical distancing makes dating that much more awkward. Have you ever had a video date? It’s weird, especially if you’re used to dating in person.

Wash Fruits and Vegetables

It is recommended to wash your fruits and vegetables even the ones you peel. Remember, we haven’t found out where the nose-pickers have left their treasures and they may have touched the apples before moving onto the carrots after having gone mining in the cracker aisle.

Pen-Chewing

This section goes along with the “don’t stick things in your mouth” advice above.

How many of you have thought this is a good time to stop your pen-chewing habit? The nose-pickers are re-considering their life choices, you realize, so how about getting past the pen-chewing habit?Have you ever picked up a pen that other people may have used, and then got lost in thought and found yourself chewing on that pen? Be careful because someone else may have the same habit, and you chewing on the pen after them is basically like kissing strangers and you know what I say about that: don’t do it!

These are just a few of the tips I can offer regarding personal hygiene. Remember to keep showering and brushing your teeth. Your hands aren’t the only parts of your body that get dirty. Do you have any questions or any funny stories about personal hygiene practices these days? Please share (and keep it clean).