Thursday, April 23, 2020

The Coronapacolypse Continues...

I've been home for 40 days now. Technically 42 days because I was off the two days before work closed.

This has been such a strange time.

At first, I was one of those people that didn't understand what the fuss was about--surely if people were cautious and washed their hands everything would be ok, right? Then I started actually reading up on it and realized that it was more serious than I first thought.

For a week or so, I was being extra vigilant to wash my hands, clean my desk and electronics, and kind of avoid people as much as possible. Then I was off for two days because of a crown, and we got the word that work was closing. Friday we got an email at like 2:30 that one of our branches was closing at 3:30 and the others would be closed as of Saturday.

At first, it was very confusing and no one really knew what was going on. We hadn't been home that many days before the county had issued a stay at home order, then the state. Basically, everything except essential businesses closed down. Restaurants are open for carry-out or delivery only, stores have marking on the floor 6 ft apart for people to stand on. Some stores like Walmart started limiting the number of people who could be inside the building at one time.







Many food joints have had free delivery in order to get people to spend money and support them. We have done our fair share of ordering in food. I have personally tried to support local businesses as much as I can. And with my stimulus money, I am trying hard to support local/US businesses.

Gas prices are down. Here it is around $1.49 a gallon, but in Iowa I've heard it is as low as $0.99. I read an article that oil is at an all time low of $0.001 a barrel. It is still somewhat hard to find some food items and cleaning/sanitizing supplies, but it is getting better. Many people are wearing and making homemade masks. I've signed up to help make back straps for face shields through Make4Covid. Some of my coworkers have been 3D printing parts for the shields. I'm happy to be able to do something. It makes me feel worthwhile.

Work consists of Zoom meetings, email, and running a chat service, mostly.

When this all started, I was excited and I thought to myself that I was going to be sooo productive. I was going to clean and organize my room and everything was going to be great. It wasn't too far in that the emotional rollercoaster started. I've read some articles that talk about how it's grief that people are feeling, and it is very true. I've also read about how traumatic this has been for people, and I agree with that, too. My anxiety has come in waves, I've had times of serious brain fog where I just couldn't function very well, I've had a few days where I was angry, of course I have worried a lot, and I really have grieved for life pre-CoVid.

After getting angry at myself for basically doing nothing, I made a list of small productive things to do as well as a list of fun things to do. So far I've been making small progress, but progress nonetheless. One thing I have learned over the years, is to start small. I get overwhelmed when I look at the whole picture, but when I complete one small task at a time, not only do I not get overwhelmed, but it feels like I have accomplished a lot!!

For fun I've been sewing, knitting, doing puzzles, drawing, cross stitch, coloring, and I even tried D&D for the first time. I've been doing a lot of free virtual tours, watched some concerts, listened to audiobooks, read graphic novels, watched musicals, etc.

As much as I have been disheartened by people being stupid or rude, I have also been uplifted by wonderful acts of kindness.

Here are some things to bring a smile to your self-isolation.


John Krasinski's Some Good News














Some things to try:











Also, be sure to check out what digital resources your library has!



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