Coronavirus and our new reality

If you’d have told me at the tail end of 2019 that by March 2020 the entire world would be facing a pandemic I wouldn’t have believed you.

If you’d have told me that pretty much the entire world would be under ‘lockdown’ I wouldn’t have believed you.

Even if you’d have told me that in order to ensure our elderly relatives have food that I’d need to leave the house wearing a mask, queue up for hours outside of the shop and stand two metres apart from other people, I wouldn’t have believed you.

In addition, if you’d have told me that even delivering food to my 92 year old mother in law will put her life at risk I would have stood looking at you with a dumfounded expression on my face, but that’s the reality we’re living in.

Even just stepping outside the house is a risk. My husband and children can’t leave the house. My husband has an underlying health condition and one of our girls has a congenital heart defect.

I’m the one that has to leave to do our shopping and my mother in laws shopping, and of course I don’t mind being the one to do that but last week I returned from the supermarket two and a half hours after leaving my house (a job that would usually take just under an hour) and I felt overwhelmed and emotional. This left me wondering if online therapy can help.

I’ve never considered therapy before, but I have a feeling that I may need it to help me get through this. A licensed psychotherapist is also another option to consider.

Trying to hold everything is together is tough. I get up early and, as we’re allowed to leave our house once a day for exercise, I go for a run. As I run I am mindful of other people. I cross the road to avoid being close to anyone. The streets are quiet with barely any cars.

I get home and head for the shops at 8am. A trip that would normally take under an hour turns into a two and a half hour journey. People queue two metres apart from one another outside the shops. People wear masks and gloves, scarves pulled up over their nose and mouths.

When I finish, it’s a quick shower and then I head to the bedroom where I’ve set up a mini home office so I can work from home. While I work, my husband, who is self-employed can’t work, so he’s in charge of home schooling our children. He does around two and a half hours worth of school work with them in the morning while I work and then we spend the rest of the day in the garden.

It’s a strange reality to be living in. I like to think of myself as a positive person so I look for the silver lining in all of this. I’ve really enjoyed spending more time with my family. We’ve slipped quite quickly into a routine that seems to be working well for us, but I can’t help but feel for my children.

As much as we explain what’s happening in world, it must be incredibly hard for children to understand and come to terms with. All of a sudden their world has changed dramatically. School cancelled, they’re not allowed to the park, to the beach, shops, to their friends houses etc. It’s got to be confusing for them. Like other parents we’re doing all we can to help them feel safe and happy.

How are you adjusting to our new reality? I’m really hoping it won’t be our new reality for too much longer, but sometimes it really is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.