From Sensible to Illogical: How Are Other's Around You Changing in this Pandemic?

[TruthSeeker]

He does and it needs to. Not every place but lots of places do need to open. Most of the south and Midwest have been social distancing for life and do not have the same issues that New York and Michigan and California have.

Think of the economy as a car engine. You do not put explosives on it and blow it up because a wire shorted out, you fix the bad wire. Honestly there isn’t a better person to have in office than someone that is also a businessman and understands those dynamics as well. Yes he is coarse, yes he tweets too much, and yes I do not always agree with him. Just ask yourself this. Who do you trust with a business decision, the life long businessman or the lifelong politician?

Yeah, and my farming family out in Iowa.....are saying that just now, they are seeing significant increases in positive Covid 19 numbers.....it worked it's way from international hubs like NY, Seattle, and CA inward. The farming territory is not where you want to see this go and in my HO is the region we should protect.....as we speak.....animals are being destroyed if they come into contact with COVID 19 positive people....it only takes 1 positive covid 19 person in a 3000 pig confinement, to see the animals slaughtered.....corn has taken a dive so farmers aren't selling. I don't think most people have a real good handle on the importance of farming and what happens when farmers have to follow the gov't regulations in a pandemic..........and people lack basic connected knowledge about diseases as related to our food chain. Viruses travel by people....through food.....even slaughtered/ refrigerated food. So, because corn process have bottomed, farmers aren't selling their grain....they are holding on to it....till need rises from scaricity....and prices go up. We are going to have surprising shortages.....toilet paper is just the beginning. Meat, like toilet paper, is already regulated here in Virginia.....now.....people are taking money out of banks....or the banks aren't carrying cash and you have to wait a week to get 15,000. in casy.......no, this pandemic that we could have been better prepared for after SARS scare in 09.......now he's handing out nontaxable cash money to middle class American's, many who have savings accounts or alternate means of income....and can survive on their retirement. I think that a check is a good thing, for people who lost their jobs, or under 50,000.00 income. Now is the time for neighbors, communities to come together....and to share. So, that's what I'm doing......I gave a lady a job, using my check that will come-in two months....she doesn't know it...but I have enough to survive on-she does not. Keeping social distancing in the foreground, I asked her to work outside in my gardens ( a first). I had her clean out my freezer and gave her some food. She took me to the grocery store (I needed a lift) and I got her some toilet paper, and some ground beef, and some paper towels. I guess what I'm saying.....is that we can ease our struggling neighbors by trading, lending a hand, giving, and still keeping the social distancing. Work can be found online. We can empathize, find creative ways to make do and help others in the process. I think this is something awful, and I wouldn't want to be Trump. But Trump has not had the Kennedy speech...."Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" because he can't feel like that. Those are the right words for now.....we must be strong and do our best, and help one another.......and yes, there is a balance....but consider if you want to have to wonder what contaminants are in your food? The Midwest will be red before it's all over.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Slight correction here.

The bawling kid at the top of the slide? Who keeps starting to go down, then freaks out, starts to go and freaks out? Over and over and over and over and over? I LOVE that kid. Bravest kid on the playground. Utterly consumed by fear, pissing themselves with it, and still they keep facing the slide. Until they get to the bottom of it and collapse in a puddle of tears and exhaustion. Only to do it all over again.

The person who has just gone ghost white, slicked in sweat, hands shaking, voice breaking, who locks eyes wih you and says “Tell me what to do.” ? I LOVE that person.

And countless other examples.

Everyone gets afraid, sometimes. Fear is a part of life. It’s what one does with it, that matters.

It’s the “When in danger, or in doubt? Run in circles, scream & shout.” morons that piss me off.

Yup, if you dared climb to the top of the slide, you lived life to the fullest on that day in that moment.....Hurray, Atta Girl, You're Brave!. If you are someone in the cheap seats, making fun of that person whose trying to overcome their fear, well......your opinion from the peanut gallery just doesn't matter....because you should be lifting that person up......cheering that person on for facing their fear and having courage....not criticizing and making fun of them because they are feeling a feeling.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I was recently out of the country (January) when apparently things were dicey in China but there was not much of news about the virus. Then all of sudden in February everybody is talking about it...and by mid March we were lockdown and working from home since.
So what changed. IMHO, the american news (unless you dig for it) is not news, it is sensational or entertainment of the likes of the lord of the flies sort of....just aiming not for the frontal cortex but for the instinct/impulse amygdala. So I try not to watch too much of it.
When I am brave, I watch BBC, France 24, or Al Jazeera to see how the world is reacting to this...and the world is reacting sensibly and everybody is doing what they usually do (to a point provided what is going on in any given time) but concerned and with caution.

My husband and I have been cocooned for a bit over a month now. I do not police anyone but I know couple friends that are being irresponsible by that I mean they cannot go to the office but they can go out and party. To me, I go to the park with my dog as I did before but now with a renewed vigor and love cause it is my only time out.
I am deeply saddened by those that are losing money in this. I saw my pedicure lady the other day walking her dog and she looked so sad and asked me how I was feeling and I said I am OK as I work from home and she was like ooh good but I could feel and see she is breaking down. She had this business for 17 yrs and it may not come back or take a long time to reach. So being inside is a real threat to some but it did not change my personality.

I would say the only thing I am resistant is to meeting on zoom with friends unless we are playing games. I aint meeting on zoom having wine and talk. I do not have that much to talk about it. but maybe that is my little antisocial unless there is a purpose kicking in.

long blahhh but that is what Covid19 does....

I've changed my attitude on policing others:
I have been given rights by the government. There's a six feet rule......in public......in stores......and I wear a mask not to spread my germs to others. If someone is in too much of a hurry and walks within 4 feet or less than me, than that's when I get ugly. I tell them that there's a 6 ft rule and if they can't count that high, they don't belong in a store where the sign says, maintain a 6 ft. distance. Or if you can't problem solve maintaining a 6 ft distance, you shouldn't have the privilege of coming in the store. When I'm really pissy, I say, "I just came out of the hospital and it's not a place you want to go.....you need to follow social distancing" or my go to.....my friend died from COVID and there was no funeral....practice social distancing. I have changed since my most recent stint in CCU for 4 days, with a chest tube in my lung. I was walking 15,000 steps average a day....and now it's more like 2000. The game rules change when you are imunocompromised, anemic, and have a gaping hold between two ribs and have to take antibiotics, in preparation for an imminent surgery.

We all have the right and civic duty to help enforce the 6 ft rule politely or otherwise. Because those people who are slacking on it...(a government policy put in place to protect the people) ..........are all about their inconvenience....and don't believe it can happen to them.....and they think that the chances that they could pass it to someone else without knowing they were infected, is minimal. There are many stupid people out there....but I see those of us who speak out as vigilant.....and protective of those who can't or won't speak out and who are terrified.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I was suffering from a TBI when I wrote this last post.....I changed due to fear of getting the infection, my CCU experience in a well-known hospital with decent ratings, and the mental confusion that comes from TBI, ........and then I had forgotten about the thread....and was going to post one similar to it......till I found it. I'm doing better....but now that I have to see a pulmonologist....
I'm more isolated.

How have I changed as a result of quarantine and the fears associated with this virus?

When I designated my purpose in life this year was to travel and check off some bucketlisters....and that went away, I was on a real high for once in my life....and it crashed....I was despondent for only a week or two until I could regroup....make a new schedule, a new plan that involved getting out-but safely. So, I'd get out with my photography.....but now transportation is an issue for a couple of months.......and

Isolation doesn't agree with me when it's imposed.......and you won't catch me in a germ factory like Walmart.

I a friend picks up my meds, and the neighbor picks up stuff at the grocery store for me. I don't like being a burden.

When my 1 Covid-safe friend whom I let in the house visits once a week, I get really wound up.....it's super nice to have company, but my reactions are more extreme in the happiness/having fun dept. I've never been that happy to see her.... and things seem a lot more extreme in the happy dept when she comes-than before COVID.

Masks....I have a mask that ties....I go out walking or to a place, I keep my mask loosely tied around my neck....just in case neighbor little kids come running my way.

I went out every day....now once a week....

I pick the hospitals to get blood work and tests done that have the lowest COVID cases in that city.

My fun time has changed from traveling to completing a 1000 piece travel puzzle.

I'm retired and I work online......just because.....

Doing Art and playing music are not calling to me.......(they were art classes and a group of friend whom have played together for ages......gone to shows, potlucked, and met for lunch/dinner.....kapoot!

I purchased the Golden Girls Clue Game-it's like clue.....you have to figure out who ate the cheese cake.....Really....I would not have made that purchase before Covid 19.

I bought a freezer and stocked up on farm meat....in case of round 2....

I'm ultra lonely.......my sleep is shit....got no schedule.....trying to make a purpose...and remember to eat......and take a walk.....and get in my chocolate protein shake..............it's really tough some days.....and remembering is harder without a purpose...a schedule....

 

[Tinyflame]

How have I changed as a result of quarantine and the fears associated with this virus?

I've heard it said a lot, that it's brought out better traits in many. I think those whose stress was reduced (IMHO many because of a reprieve from work, and all that goes with it) could experience that. Those who couldn't, the stress went up. Similarly, those financially terrified, vs those not (or not yet). Etc. Perhaps for some, more time together as couples or families was/ is divorce-making; others the opportunity of a lifetime.

I've been thinking about this today, ironically. I feel more stripped of what was basic and necessary; I feel invalidated and questioning whether what I thought was worth-filled is not, as seems to be supported by others; I feel more isolated though I can rarely be; I have lost connections I won't restore; I wonder if such kind of a life can be considered worthwhile. Perhaps for those not experiencing the former? I wonder if it's simply new 'habit'? My own constitution or inability to retain what is gone, or have any recall of it? Tbh, Idk. And I'm too tired to care.

It reminds me of something my mom said, as my dad worked away 4-8 month stretches (not really of choice, more required for financial survival): that if she hadn't learned to communicate, and letter-write, the marriage would have failed. But I understand it differently now. As a child, it was just sorrowful (even the dog got depressed), cry in private (with dog :inlove: ), put on a brave face, start counting down days to return. And understanding to some degree what fell upon her. Well, not 'understanding;, just 'aware'. But now I see, it was so much different: it was deciding whether there would be commitment, connection, investment, in each other, in dreams, in meaning, in hope for the future. It was a willful desire and choice to bridge distance, of all kinds; to include and retain what had value, with the circumstances being the challenge. What covid 19 measures do and don't do, well they are necessary but also for some things the 'cure' is causing it's own damage .Is it salvageable/ temporary? Idk. Depends on how you live, and when compelled to live as each day could be your/ anyone's last, are the changes better/ for the best? Idk. Not for those who didn't take these things for granted to begin with. But unlike counting on a calendar, it's easier to throw the calendar away.

I suppose it strips bare the true thoughts of many, and reveals a lot about people; relationships; what people value; what is disposable. To a great degree it even magnifies what is out of touch, or distant, or self-oriented.

I think for myself/ my constitution/ experiences/ history, it's not something to just pick back up with after/ when it passes, or even during, if I'm around then, or others are. Which one never knows, on any given day. I suppose it depends which parts trigger; how much people are just thinking they'll return to what they had, etc. You can't return to what dies away.

I'm sorry I'm tired, probably doesn't make much sense.

I hope you start feeling better. :hug:

ETA, I remember getting horrendously sick from a visiting relative when caring for my mom (palliative); eventually I said, "Mom, I can't take it any more, can I give you a hug?" And she said, "Sure honey!", and we had a bear hug and I turned my face far away. And it was selfish, though I would always pray it's make her tumour shrink. And she was palliative, but not like you want to make someone die sooner or suffer. But we both 'got it' (and she didn't catch the flu from me, because of it). I understood, and she understood. There's worse things than illness or death, or perhaps things more important, when the rubber hits the road. JMHO though.