“People working together in a strong community with a shared goal and a common purpose can make the impossible possible.” – Tom Vilsack
It is a scary world out there for me right now. Partially, because I live with anxiety on a regular basis. Add on to that, the fact that I live with asthma and MS. My MS causes me to take immune suppressing medications. I have been staying in my house much more than normal. My only outings have been to the dog park with my dog Robson. I think most of my fear comes from wondering if other people are doing what they need to do. Staying home if they are sick, limiting the people they are around and doing the increased personal hygiene like hand washing that we are expected to do in this new world we seem to be living in. All that we can do as the “vulnerable population” is do what we can do. I do believe in the good of mankind however. I had to remind myself of this yesterday to get out of the panic state I have been living in.
Social media can make it easy to see all of the people who are out there saying things like “It’s just a flu. We are overreacting.” Also seeing comments like “I’ll be fine. It is just the elderly and the sick.” Not hugely helpful when you are one of the “sick.” It can override some of the other people out there who are offering to get groceries for the elderly and people who are more vulnerable to illness. There are grocery stores offering an early hour of the day for “private shopping” for the same group of people. I have received phone calls from people offering to get things for me if I didn’t want to go out. I phoned my doctor’s office today. They do not give out refills on prescriptions unless you go in for an appointment. Through my own forgetfulness, I realized yesterday I was almost out of a medication. I called the office and they told me to stay home and that they will fax in my prescription to not risk me having to come in around other sick people. People are good at heart. Those who aren’t behaving that way, I believe are acting from a place of fear or a place of only looking out for themselves. There is nothing I can do to change that. I am going to live my life in the same way I always do. I will surround myself (virtually or from 2 meters away) with those who are kind and considerate. People who are looking out for the good of the community and not just the good of themselves. They are not sitting at home on 10 cases of toilet paper they are trying to sell at ridiculous prices online. They are helping their neighbours.
I believe the world will figure it out. They will realize we need to work responsibly as part of a community. We must or things will get worse. As for me and mine, we will continue to limit how many people we are around and how far away we are from those people. For however long this may last, I will continue to do things that bring me peace. Those things are painting, writing, reading and sewing. I will have FaceTime chats with my friends and family that are not in my household. I will continue to put out blog posts about how things are going in my neck of the woods. Things that are positive and can possibly help some of you get through this trying time. Technology is a great thing at this time. I chatted with my niece on Instagram video the other day where she showed me a new game she is playing. I could see her and talk to her which makes things seem so much less isolating. I will continue to reach out to people who are forced to isolate in their homes. I talked to a friend on Facebook video messenger the other day who is not feeling well and has been inside for days. We both said it was so nice to have the video chat because is feels like someone is in you house with you.
When I came back from Cabo three weeks ago, I started an art page. It had birds, sunshine and bright colours. When all of this craziness started, I stopped working on it. Yesterday, I decided to start working on it again. As I worked, a face started to emerge from the background. I outlined her in my black Stabilo All pencil. The picture at the beginning of this entry, is her starting to come out. She does not look joyous, but she looks confident and calm. That is the place I am trying to get to and I hope you all can find it too. The joyous faces will start to come back in the months to come. For now, I am happy to live in quiet ease.
I am also going to put out some live chats on my FaceBook closed group https://www.facebook.com/groups/162437324440843/?ref=bookmarks . Feel free to join if you would like to chat about how you are doing. I will post a message on there to let you all know when they will be. Community is so important at this time. I would like our Undefined Life group to be a souce of support and uplifting at this time. Email me if you would like me to discuss anything particular in the chats.
Much love and calm and keep reaching out to others however you can,
Christine
anundefinedlife.com 