When we started hearing the news about Coronavirus in the U.S., I honestly believed that it would be the same as every other big health scare that has happened in my lifetime. I remember telling my son that it would all blow over in a few weeks.
I quickly learned that I was quite mistaken. The week before our planned vacation, the owner of the restaurant where we worked announced that he was closing the restaurant and would only be doing takeout orders for the near future. That was the first sign that something was terribly wrong.
For our vacation, we had planned a road trip to Colorado where we had booked a private bungalow for the week. We considered canceling the trip. We did our homework and decided that we could make the trip with minimal exposure. The day we arrived in Colorado, everything shut down. We made the best of it and enjoyed a fantastic vacation.
When we returned from our trip, Chris was out of a job, and I had a drastically different job than what I left. A week later, Virginia shut down. The large numbers of people with no respect for social distancing made the grocery store frightening.
After two months, I was let go from my job as well. I was happy that I would no longer have to risk exposure to the virus, but I was angry and scared to no longer have a job.
While we are doing alright financially, it has been a tough month. At first, the prospect of all the things I could do with so much more time on my hands was exciting. The reality, though, is I have dealt with a nagging depression.
I have good days where I am very productive. I have worked on the blog and am happy to have more time to devote to it finally. With our upcoming move, I have taken the time to go through our stuff to get rid of things we do not want to take with us. Some days I do not have it in me to be productive at all. Some days just getting out of bed is my only accomplishment. Most days fall somewhere between the two.
Businesses are starting to reopen, but I don’t think we are anywhere close to things getting back to normal. At this point, Chris and I are uncomfortable going to a restaurant or anywhere with a crowd (we will leave the park if the parking lot is too full).
We are working our way towards normal but at our own pace. We have started visiting with our kids again. We attended a small party for a friend who was moving out of state. We have camping trips planned for next week and next month.
I don’t know if things will ever return to the normal we once knew. I do believe that if we make the best of the good days and allow ourselves to indulge in how we feel on the bad days, we will get through this. Things will get better.
In the meantime, I will continue to dance every morning, take some time each day for something fun and, when I am feeling overwhelmed, put some Stress Away in the diffuser and allow myself to take it easy.
I get those pandemic blues and then it passes and comes back again. We use regularly in our family the line from Dory in Finding Dory…”Just keep swimming.”
It sure is a trying time for so many of us. Be together and love those close and talk when you can about how you feel. I hope this stressful time is over for us all soon. take care!
I get thos blues as well. Crazy times
This sure has been a crazy time and depression has increased. Thanks for sharing and know that you are doing an awesome job! 😊
This is so true! I have days where I just can’t stuff my sad “blue” feelings anymore and it bubbles over and I get cranky with everyone around me. And having to help my three kids cope only adds to that. It’s so hard trying to explain to young kids how to deal with these let downs and changes. Thanks for sharing this!
Completely relatable – it’s been an upheaval up here in Ontario too. I’ve been home since mid-March and just going back to the office now part time. It’s been a great time for self-reflection and we’ve purged and cleaned a ton too!
I feel ya! I am ready for things to be back to normal!
Beautiful, peaceful images! I think so many people have struggled during the pandemic with enforced stay-at-home time. Our world has been a bit turned upside-down. Here’s to hoping it gets back to normal soon!
This COVID-19 has certainly put a kink in all of our plans. It’s crazy that we are still dealing with this illness. I hope a vaccine comes along. However, I am glad to use this time to get other things done, too. Yes, working on my blog and crafting has been fun.
Beautiful! This looks so tranquil!
Being single, I have opened up my bubble but I observe carefully how large my friends’ bubbles are. I observe who is slack about wearing masks and distancing and it does make me wary so those are the ones I have least contact with. I think we all get grouchy or down and it is important to acknowledge this especially if you have children, who will go through these emotions as well. My friend’s 10 year old son son had some moody days and outbursts but they were easy on him because they knew he was stressed. He has returned to school and is so happy to be there, excited about his teacher, his classmates, the way things are spread out and the class size of 20 and he is okay with wearing a mask and sanitizing his hands. Not everyone is so lucky with physical distancing or small classrooms. i so enjoyed going to a National park when it opened and I got there before the crowds so it was blissful. Our numbers are rising and it will be a tough fall, so I will get out for many walks (at least that is my intention.) I do notice that picking up the phone is a positive move but that is not happening with the regularity it once did at the start of the pandemic, something we need to be mindful of once the cloudy short cold days roll in.Seeing the beauty in the blogs helps as well as getting out and taking photos of my own.