How has this time of isolation helped me? How has it helped you? Perhaps it hasn’t? Are there positives?
Yes, there are. In my smaller isolated world, I am learning about what I really need: family, nature, friends, creative outlets, and fewer possessions. I am learning more about myself and others, where I am seeing the very worst and the best in people.
While these have been positive insights, the increasing and often unnecessary and untimely loss of life from the Coronavirus, hang over me each and every day, as the new “reality.” Add to this the many people who have lost jobs, businesses, are homeless, can’t afford food, and the economy in general: these realities appear grim. Paired with this, the unknown of when and how this will end, cause added stress in the form of anxiety and feelings of overwhelming sadness and grief.
Nobody wants to be around the negative all the time, but I feel that expressing our true and authentic selves during this very difficult time is healthy. Can’t there be a balance in how we feel and express ourselves?
And what about our children? Since March, they have pretty much been protected at home and away from their school setting. We now know that children are not immune from catching or spreading this virus. Sadly, infants to teens have died. School has started in some places throughout the United States, and we are already seeing a rise in cases. We all have a responsibility to do what is “right” for everyone, including our children. We owe them this, and they need us. If we all did the right thing in keeping one another safe, this relentless virus could be turned around. However, that would take everyone working together for the common good.
Over the last seven days, one death every 80 seconds in the United States is caused by the Coronavirus.
Photos collected online
