Tag Archives: covid 19

How is Covid 19 affecting your emotional health?

Is this like day 1,000 for Covid 19 here in the U.S.? It sure seems like it. For months we have been Zooming and doing all other type of virtual meetings. I handled this for the first few months ok, but this is going beyond my ability to be isolated. I don’t think that I am alone. Even the most introverted people are slowly going crazy.
What I have not seen much of in the news, is the emotional damage this virus is placing on the world. There is no official end date. Nobody knows when it will end. This is not emotionally healthy.

Connect the dots

connect the dots

Based on my own emotions, there is a lot of angst with not knowing when something like this is going to end. The future is very uncertain. We are told that when a vaccine is created, this will end, but there is no real date on that either because they don’t know when and if a successful vaccine will be found. There is no guarantee.
For us personally, we have been keeping busy with little projects to keep our minds off of the virus, but we don’t have any clue when all of our big projects which have been put on hold will ever be resumed. This type of uncertainty causes anger as well as depression. Over the past 30 days our country has experienced a level of anger and hostility that I have not seen in over 50 years. I’m not saying that the public outcry over what happened to George Floyd is not called for, but the resulting looting and anger that has poured out is also due to people being uncertain about their future as well as pent up frustrations over the virus.

Why all of the unkindness?

There is such a lack of grace, love and otherwise kindness going on. Instead of realizing that Covid 19 and the restrictions placed upon us are causing all of us to be very short fused, we feel that our feelings are 100% justified, no matter what the subject is.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Without a vision, the people perish.” That’s what is going on. We don’t have a vision, we don’t have an end date, we don’t see the finish line. Maybe it should be, “Without an end date, the people go crazy.”

What’s the point?

After an extended time of putting off trips, weddings, vacations and every other type of activity that requires people to congregate, it’s rather pointless to plan any event. All of us need something to look forward to. During the work week, we look forward to the weekend. When there are so few things that you can do during the weekend, this has made the weekend a non-event. Vacation, summer camp, family reunions or going to a theme park are all out the window. Even going to your local zoo has become virtual or so restricted that it’s not even fun. The emotional toil that this virus has put upon the world is worse than the virus in my opinion. How long can we go on without a finish line?

Mask vs no mask

surgical mask

Do you actually think this crazy Karen mentality is all about wearing a mask? No, it’s the result of the emotional toil this virus is taking on people. When we have no control over our lives, we project our frustrations onto others. We don’t even feel as if we have control over what we wear which is a very personal choice. We resent that this virus is making us wear masks in the first place. It’s not the mask, it’s the control that this virus has over us. We are angry at something that we cannot see nor we can control.

We need emotional support

What we need is emotional support for the feelings that all of us are going through. The media doesn’t help with their sensationalist type of reporting. Everything has become click bait, feeding on the angst that we all feel. We need for all leaders to talk about hope, loving one another and giving one another the benefit of the doubt. Most importantly, to be able to find some way to give all of us a vision. We need to find a means to connect safely in person, not by Zoom, so that we can share each other’s pain while we figure out how to put an end to this nightmare that we are all living in.

outdoor picnic during coronavirus
Getty Images

Shelter in place, redeem the time

As I look out my window on this beautiful spring day, I see people walking and jogging. They are trying to sluff off the tension that is building up from needing to “shelter in place” during this Covid19 pandemic.  shelter in place and walk that pet The fresh air and the sunshine beckon us outside. Being cooped up inside the house with stale air can’t be that good for any of us, both physically and mentally. People seem to be keeping their distance from one another to keep from catching any bad germs. That is, except those that live in the same household as far as I can tell.

Dennis had to ‘Shelter in Place’

Even though I hate this isolation, I think in many ways it will end up being good in the long run. It does give us time to be introspective, that is if we allow ourselves to take the time to look within ourselves.  This may be akin to having to sit in the corner.
 Dennis the Menace sheltering in place and sitting in the cornerDo you remember WHY you had to sit in the corner? I think I was spanked more than put in the corner. It was usually a parent telling us, “Go sit in the corner and think about what you did.” I don’t know that it is anything we “did”, but it does give us time to think while being in this proverbial “corner”.

What is nice to see, is people walking and talking to one another. I don’t see as many people looking at their cell phones. Everyone has all day and night to view a screen of some sort. When we are made to shelter in place, why continue to look at a video screen when we can be outdoors?

A few ideas to keep us busy

If you live in an area where the city lights don’t overpower the stars, now would be a great time to buy a telescope. Sit under the spring equinox and look at the stars. There is only so much one can take watching movies on TV. shelter in place and watch the stars
This week marks the Lyrid meteor shower. Here is a link to astronomical events for the next month or two.

if you are a student, you can get Rosetta Stone free for 3 months and learn a new language. If you aren’t a student, you can try 3 days free to see if this is something that you might want to do.

Make a daily shelter in place checklist

What I have found helpful when I get up in the morning is to NOT pick up my phone, tablet, or turn on the TV. I write down with paper and pen what I want to do for the day. I don’t overload my list, I just put 2 or 3 things that I want to get done by the end of the day. When I do this I find that shelter in place checklist on a clipboardI actually do these things. If not, I just sort of let the day evaporate into thin air. I hate throwing away a perfectly good day. To me, every day is a gift. When I just waste it, to me it’s like taking this gift that I have been given and throwing it in the garbage. It’s as if I am telling the giver of life, “Here, take this day back. I don’t want it.” I will admit that I haven’t always succeeded at this as evidenced in my previous post!

Hopefully, we will all come out of this sheltering in place with some very valuable lessons. Hopefully, insights that will continue past the end date of this pandemic. I just hope that we become kinder to one another and embrace every day, no matter where we find shelter.

Not a spoonful of sugar!

Do we need a spoonful of sugar?

My last blog post said that I was going to get all kinds of projects done. I was so positive and had all sorts of ideas on what to do during this pandemic. I have to admit that I have pretty much failed to do anything. I’ve done a couple of small projects, but nothing monumental. I see all of the things that a lot of you are doing and I am impressed. For me, it is as if I have put my life on hold. I wake up in the morning like a child child looking out windowwho is wishing for snow. I run to the window to see if there is snow on the ground; well I don’t actually run to the window to look for snow. I simply look at the subject lines of emails in my inbox without opening them up to see if  a vaccine is ready to be administered to the general public so that we can all go back to our pre-pandemic lives.

Shelter in Place

I have been doing this every day since the ‘Shelter in Place’ order came out in our state. Our governor has extended non-essential businesses to remain closed until May 8th and for the ‘Shelter in Place’ order to remain until June 10th. That is over 2 months away! No amount of running to the window is going to change this unless they come up with a vaccine before that time. You see, it’s as if I do not want to swallow this ‘Shelter in Place’ medicine. I feel like a child who is refusing to take that spoonful of medicine. Right now, there is no amount of sugar that is going to make the medicine go down.
Mary Poppins giving spoon of medicine to children

I’m not one who is good at accepting things nor adapting to something that I just don’t want to do. I will admit that it is not an emotionally healthy attitude and it is past time to take my medicine. I know that it is good for me, but I don’t have to like it as I know that you do not as well.

Time for Projects

Now onto ‘Projects’. As I work remotely anyway, I don’t have all of this extra time that many people speak of. I still work 8 hours per day. It’s just the nights and weekends where I have fewer choices on what I can do and this is where projects are supposed to fit in right? Why am I putting off starting any of these projects? It’s as if because I know that I have extra time after hours, I choose not to start them. If I had more choices, then I would probably start them. Does that make any sense? It’s sort of the human condition; we want what we can’t have and don’t want what we do have. I do have this extra time on the weekends, but I DON”T want to start a project because that would be saying yes to the medicine.

For those of you that are totally enjoying this time of isolation and the ability to get to all of those things that you have been putting off done, I applaud you. I tip my hat and Little girl making a face when being given spoonful of medicine hope to attain some of your traits, but for now, I see my mother coming down the hall with that big silver spoon, twice the size of my little mouth and there is some sort of chalky medicine that isn’t suitable for an adult much less a child.
Here I go, I’m holding my nose and closing my eyes. It smells yucky!!

Find the bad apple, don’t throw out the whole bunch

There is no reason to legislate against a few bad apples

As Americans, we are known to be people of action.  We are creators, inventors, writers and adventurers. It was that sense of adventure that caused us to travel to the moon. When we formed that first settlement in Virginia, we weren’t happy to just stay in Virginia. We wanted to see what was beyond. Thus, we headed west to see what was beyond the Appalachian mountains.

When it came to mobilizing America  during the WW2 war effort, we turned factories into military arsenal production assembly lines in order to defend our country. Even with the pandemic that we are facing, private industries are churning out face masks, ventilators and other devices to combat this new enemy.  America has always been willing to get behind a cause worth fighting.

a bad apple in a bunch of good apples
One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch

Americans are people of action

What America is NOT good at is doing nothing. We are not good at staying at home hiding from this evil virus. We are doing everything in our power to come up with a vaccine as well as a treatment for those that are unfortunate enough to catch this virus. Isolation is just not in our DNA. Unfortunately, there are those that ruin it for all of us. It’s sort of like the one kid in school that misbehaves during class and then the entire class doesn’t get to go out for recess. As we all know, you can’t legislate against stupidity.

We have been told that we need to sanitize, wash our hands for 20 seconds, practice social distancing and that those that have any type of cough need to wear a mask to keep their germs to themselves. That is a call to action. We can do that as Americans, but if 99% of us are doing that and only a percentage or two are refusing to do so, should we then legislate that the majority of America can no longer be open for business while practicing these necessary habits?

Let’s hold those that ruin it for the rest of us accountable

Why not hold those that ignore these necessary practices accountable, but allow the rest of America to try and have some sense of normalcy? Don’t shut down the entire country due to a few idiots. Go find the idiots who are not abiding by these standards, name them, shame them and fine them, but for the rest of us, let our people go! We can be responsible. We can meet the challenge. Don’t treat us as if we are all back in grade school.

This is just my opinion, but if we can’t come up with some sort of compromise at the end of April, I don’t think things will go well for any of us. Let’s not cause a few bad apples to ruin it for us all.

I’M BOYCOTTING ALL FORMS OF NEWS UNTIL THIS IS OVER

No news
courtesy of seekingalpha

You heard me right. I can’t handle any more negative news.
Even only checking news in the morning is way too much. This pandemic isn’t going to change overnight. The “authorities” say it’s going to take weeks, maybe even months for this to ease it’s grip on our nation. If that is the case, I’m going to live my life as I have recently learned to do along with the rest of you I’m sure. No going out except for essentials and exercise. Social distancing when we do go out. Ok, I get it.

I have taken up new hobbies. I will practice my cello, maybe learn a new language and work on my new Imagineers project. I refuse to expose myself to all of the bad news. Knowing about every single statistic isn’t going to really change anything for me. If they do find a vaccine or there is a news flash, don’t you think someone will tell me? Hey, I don’t live under a rock. I have friends and family. Those of you that are glued to your phone, computer, Ipad or newspaper, you can tell me to go get the new vaccine. At least I will be in a good mood when I get my vaccine instead of near the point of slitting my wrists due to depression from all of these apocalyptic reports.

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24