Pen to Paper:
What were you thinking when the news of Covid 19 became real to you?
There’s no doubt that this has been a hard time for many. It’s been 5 months for me and I have to say, I didn’t believe it at the beginning. I didn’t believe that it would change so much in a short amount of time. It felt like the world and time just stopped. Biggest change at the beginning for me is when my dance studio closed for classes and socials on March 13, 2020. I went from dancing everyday to not.
It was about the same time schools were having spring break. Most schools had extended spring breaks and the extended spring breaks resulted to teachers and students not returning to campus and doing all education online. Many non-essential businesses and bars were closed down. Restaurants were either drive thru or delivery. No dine in. Businesses reopening was projected for April 15, then extended to April 30, then extended again. The reopening of business were slow and was based according to necessity and were 25% or 50% capacity. Bars in Texas were able to open near the end of May to be closed again a month later. Now mask are required in all businesses. Along the way we have experience one or all of the following (feel free to share others things I didn’t list):
– Shelter in Place
– Quarintine
– Schools Closed
– Social Distancing
– Wear mask/gloves
– People working from home
– Only essential businesses were open
– Empty shelves: No Toilet paper, paper towels & cleaning supplies
– Take out only
– Tempature taken at medical facilities and businesses
– and much more.
All these changes have been an adjustment. Many have experience emotional and physical stress. Everywhere I turned the words that comes to mine that was used a lot was “this is the new norm.” I feel nothing feels normal.
I posted a thought of mine on my facebook page that I truly feel: “I will never take for granted the freedom I had to go where I pleased, hug or see who I wanted, and dancing everyday where and with who that would join me. I am truly grateful that I got to share these things with others so far!”
The changes have been difficult for me. I’ve been taking it one day at a time. I’ve been spending my time training my foal, reading many books to help me be a better person, exercising, memory keeping and journaling. I can’t seem to exercise as much as I was dancing and somedays it’s hard to write.
If you are feeling uneasy about what is going on or if you just want to remember the events, I encourage you to take pen to paper and write down how you feel about all of this and what you have experienced. If you don’t prefer pen to paper, type it out on you computer. I feel writing will help you to solve any problems you may have regarding all that has happened. It helps reduces stress and provides relief, if there are problems it can clarify the problems in your own mind and allows you to concentrate on finding a solution.
My personal opinion: “I have been very fortunate to not of been sick but I can’t stop living life. I believe that life should go on, family should reunite, people should go back to work, business should reopen and we should deal with the outfall because most of this isn’t working and it’s the worst!”
