Pandemic….

Hello everyone,

I have to say I can not believe it has been a year since I wrote to the world. Guess I’ve been a little busy having fun.

I really hope you are all holding up as good as you can.

We, my husband and I were away at our winter home in Florida when the Covid 19 hit South Florida. Every news channel and radio station had been talking about this virus and how fast and deadly it was spreading. Our kids were calling to tell us they had to cancel their flights to come down and ordering us to get home. Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. So we thought.

All the talk about 2 meters apart, stay home, don’t breathe! The entire world was shutting down.

Until we drove home and were ordered to stay indoors for 14 days and watching the news day after day did it sink in. This is really bad. This is really scary.

Now, 4 months in, I still feel we are far from getting over this, if we ever will.

My thoughts lead me to thinking about all of those struggling with mental health issues. How will they cope? How will they fill their day without being able to leave the house? How will this affect their sobriety and strength both mentally and physically? I am worried about my fellow warriors who are trying to live a life without alcohol in a pandemic. This is the first pandemic of our lifetime so there are no resources or plans made in place for when situations arise. My heart is heavy for those suffering in any situation, alcohol, drugs, abuse, depression, etc. Not having the outlets readily available to them at the time of a crisis.

In today’s world atleast we have online meetings that can be very helpful. But some need that person to person contact, so we arrange for a parking lot meeting and stay in our cars. We put glass shields up, we stand outside windows to say hello to friends and family. We adjust and struggle to live the life we are used to but now with strict orders and a whole new way of living outside our homes.

It’s a shock to our system, to our way of living. Not only are we faced with changing everything in and about our life, we now are forced to not hug, not touch, stay 6ft away from people, waiting in lines to shop anywhere, wearing a mask and so on. It brings anger, frustration and irritability.

The feeling of helplessness is on high alert for a lot of people and there are no outlets for them at this time.

What can we do for our community? What can we do to help?

We can do extra care for those needing help, we can make ourselves more available to talk, to calm, to support, by social media, by picking up the telephone and calling a friend who may need to hear your voice. We can grab a coffee for 2 and have a drive way coffee date. But mostly we can and will get through this if we stick together. Reach out if you need help. Please.

I’m thinking of all of you throughout this pandemic and hoping you all stay strong and safe.

We are all in this together. Even without a pandemic, we are in this together!

This is, Being Me Sober

State of Mind Recovery Coach.