I’ve been practicing social distancing and working from home for 3 weeks, and it’s been a tricky transition. My husband still leaves the house to work every weekday, so I’ve become responsible for our young daughter’s distance learning. I’m struggling to find a rhythm for working from home, giving my daughter and husband the attention they need, and doing more cooking and cleaning than I usually do. I’ve never been this domestic! And I haven’t yet figured out a way to carve out time and space to take care of myself personally. It’s a strange place to be…feeling both more isolated than ever (cut off from regular interactions with family, friends, coworkers, and strangers that I’d see in public), but also never alone (because I’m constantly with my daughter, and often my husband). I feel very fortunate, but not quite like myself right now.
How people are treated: NA
Learning How to Live Again
Th C-virus has impacted my life. It requires us to stay home. No school, no church outings, so social events, community service initiatives have been postponed or cancelled. Although our lives have not come to a halt it has definitely come to a stand still. We now have to be more vigilant with things we should do to reduce the sped of the C-virus. Our community need to be prayerful and obedient and follow the rules for survival. Try to help one another. Keep an eye on our children and our senior community. This crisis in our lives right now will pass.
How did we get here?
Space. I need my space. I need space to unwind, to educate my children, to do my work, to support my family, to make space for connections of loved ones. My space has gone from the world to my home. It is constricting, overwhelming, frustrating, scary, fun, new and so much more. There is no normal. The days blend, the hours blend. It could be worse. It is worse for so many others. How can I help but still be true to myself, family and networks? My family needs space.How did we get here?
To be human together
Ive been impacted by anxiety since childhood. When I was young, I felt a lot of shame about not being able to tell my brain to stop worrying (as well meaning adults suggested). When my two older children were in their early teens, they were both diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition that runs in both sides of my family. Although I had already worked on my anxiety in therapy, my childrens diagnoses motivated me to deepen my research, and do whatever I could to learn to manage my mental health and theirs. When their doctor wrote mindfulness meditation on a prescription pad and suggested it for all of us, I took it to heart. My children and I became vocal mental health advocates, and I trained in trauma-informed yoga and meditation to help others learn a skill which had helped me and my children. I went to work for non-profits focused on mental health and trauma, both as a yoga/meditation teacher and a mental health peer specialist. When people ask me what I do for work, I summarize it by saying I help both adults and children with big feelings by sharing my own experiences and tools that have helped me. Now with COVID-19, I cant interact with the people I serve face to face. Individual meetings have been replaced with phone calls. Classes have been replaced with YouTube videos and live video-conferencing. I am adapting everyday, as are the people I serve. It isnt easy, but Ive noticed a resilience coming to the surface. Ive noticed that skills that Ive developed over many years to manage my general anxiety (and trauma) are also helping me to manage this situational anxiety. I see the same in my children, my friends who identify as being in recovery from mental health conditions, and in many of the people I serve. It isnt universal. Others are really struggling. Seniors in isolation share their fears with me, and they are real and heavy. We practice breathing and grounding together (which is different on the phone but not impossible). We talk about gratitude and hope. We do what we did before, which was to be vulnerable, to sit with big feelings, empathize and acknowledge suffering. To be human together.
100 Days of Solitude
I wonder how much unlimited data on my phone plan really means. Ever since the beginning of this self-isolation era, I’m sure people have turned to their phones and their home wi-fi to ride this wave of corona virus-related news. I know everyone must be watching their Netflix, having Zoom conferences, virtual classes and virtual happy hours, and calling their people to ask them what they’re doing for the umpteenth time that day. As for me, I didn’t realize until now how crucial my phone has become to staying connected and keeping sane in a moment where staying home is the most responsible thing we can do. I wonder how many people are the same way and if the internet overlords can keep this going for us. Can you imagine if those networks fell? Do we whip out our typewriters and feather quills? Do we start to create to our Hulu comedy specials during dinner time? Worse, how long before people living by themselves start feeling the anxiety caused by confinement? I say we use ham radios again or even cans on very large lengths of strings moving forward. Solutions are endless, I’m sure.It’s a deep rabbit hole to follow when we think about how we became so dependent on the internet. It’s truly a blessing and a curse. While there are so many things going on right now, it’s important to stay optimistic and responsive to our community. So, thank you to all the technicians out there doing what they do and thank you to the invisible cable in the sky for carrying our memes, love letters, funny cat videos, and the smiles our loved people across the way for us.
I am going through, moving forward, and discovery new activities.
I have not been able to participate in several of my favorite activities, swimming, Zumba Yoga and walking in the park. But I am encouraged , I read more, clean out my closets, (I am gathering things that I don’t need or want, and I am looking forward to getting them out of my space.) I am journaling, and I crotchet and I reach out to family and friends and friends who are family more frequently. (I text, call and/or email.) I spend quality listening to music.
Starving
I live on a limited income. I ran out of food yesterday after going five days of eating only one meal. I have no money or food stamps. I have no car. The bus is my only transportation. I am considered high risk due to underlying health problems. I have no mask or gloves. I am terrified of going out unprotected. Many of the food pantries have closed or I cannot get to them or there are specific instructions on accessing them which I cannot meet. Example: This link came with a notice of a food pantry that will be open today. You have to have a car, you pull up in line, you cannot get out of your car, when your turn arrives you either open your passenger side window or automatically open your trunk, the food will be handed to you or placed in your trunk, then you drive off. Like I said before, I have no car. I have no family or friends who can help me…
Living in Ongoing Emergency Roll
My job tasks have changed, putting aside usual management tasks. I am completely focused on helping keep our programs operational and filling in where needed. I try to keep up to date on changes and new services to share with staff.
A New Reality: The Journey of a Second Grade Teacher Through the Pandemic
Hi. I’ll start at the beginning. I’m a elementary school teacher. A little more than two weeks ago I started to feel bad. Like I had the flu times 10. I wasn’t surprised because my children have been sick for over 3 weeks with the same symptoms as we’re talking about now. One I sent to the nurse had a high fever, wheezing, could barely stand up. He went home, and went to the hospital where they kept him overnight. He was out the next two days, then back in school, still sick. So, I started to have the same symptoms, minus the fever. Since then I’ve seen two doctors, two different rounds of antibiotics and no effect. I tested negative for the flu. Last Sunday I felt so bad, extremely weak, like I could barely walk. At the suggestion of the health department, I went to the hospital. My goal was to get tested. They quickly informed me that they had no testing kits and that no hospital in Palm Beach County had testing kits and that they didn’t even know of a drive thru place and that I probably wouldn’t be tested anyway because I’m not over 65 and have no underlying health conditions. They drew blood, took a chest xray, and told me I was basically healthy. I said, If I’m so healthy, why do I feel like crap? They said, Well, you probably have some kind of virus. They gave me a bag of IV fluids and after a while sent me on my way. They told me to come back if I started to turn blue. Yes, they really said that because those are the patients they are seeing now. Scary. Since Sunday, I’ve slowly started to feel better. Until last night. It’s like a wave. I am completely congested, coughing again, (dry cough) back pain like a knife, extremely tired, etc…. While this is all going on, I’ve had to order a new laptop because my current one isn’t up to par with what the school district is expecting us to accomplish. I’ve been watching countless live and recorded seminars on creating virtual classrooms, setting up links to assignments, hosting virtual meetings, participating in virtual meetings sometimes 2-3 day with my fellow teachers, calling, emailing and messaging my parents and students, trying to get them into my Google classroom. It’s exhausting. I’ve been on the computer until 11 every night looking at what my students are doing now, creating reading and math lessons for them, and learning a new format I didn’t expect to do, at least right now. But, I think we will all be a lot better at tech when this is all over. So, I’m grateful for that. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining. My brother-in-law got laid off this week from a job he’d been at for 20 years. There are people a lot worse off. I saw it when I was in the emergency room myself. I am grateful to still have my job, still be able to communicate with my friends and family, and still be able to hug my dog. Even though I’ve been completely isolated for over two weeks now and counting, it could be worse. Thank you for reading my story…..
Help those most in need in Lake Worth and PBC
Our gallery and studio are closed to the public. I come in most days to a thankfully empty town. The only people, for the most part, who are walking the streets are the homeless and those with cognitive disabilities. I drive past the tent city in John Prince Park and it breaks my heart to see so many homeless in close quarters. If nothing is done to help them it is only a matter of time. I worry about Patrick and the folks he feeds and their exposure. I sent this statement out in a letter to someone who might have the power to help. It is all I can think of. I will edit a few words out- but here is my suggestion: Every day I pass the tent city of homeless in John Prince park. This, and one other spot in Lake Worth is a petri dish of disease waiting to explode. Dave Kerner’s solution was inhuman in nature. This situation must be addressed in a humane way. I think you might be the key to this. I am a nobody when I make suggestions, but you have a voice that can and does make a big difference.Because our tourist industry is now dead- there are hundreds of motel room empty and available. I know some of those living there are bad characters because we canvassed there, but I also know there are scared helpless families. I have watched this tent city grow and grow, as I pass it every day.Could you get the county elected officials to pay motels and cleaning crews to sanitize these rooms and house and feed these families (and individuals) until this crisis is over. When the evasive testing kits become available, social services should test everyone. I am willing to bet many of these folks don’t even know about this crisis.I hope you heard Rodney Mayo’ s testimony before the WPB commission. Rodney’s workers could be employed by the county to feed those who need it most. He just laid off over 600 workers. The county needs food to go out to elderly, and all other hungry people- and his restaurants could be set up to do this. What better way to help a humanitarian like Rodney than to pay to use his restaurants to cook and deliver this food all over the county.