How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?
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Does 'Not' count as an answer?
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I take medication that helps me stay alive since honestly I am still dealing with the psychological fallout from last april/March where I lost so many clients and then dealing with the aftermath of having to field a ton of suicidal and other distressed people through the end of the PPP applications.
I cope by putting one foot in front of the other to not put a burden on my children. I quit my high stress job for one that pays the insurance bills but has virtually no stress associated with it. It is in an industry that is just below nursing homes and health care as far as covid outbreaks associated with employment, where no one gets PTO or sick leave, but I'll be honest and say after working this whole time and having lost count of the potential exposures in that time period I guess I'm not super scared of getting it and biting it, if it happens it happens, I do go out of my way to protect others from exposure to me though.
I watch bits and pieces of documentaries, i play with babies and under 18 month olds at work, I try to RP now and then if I think people actually want to be around me, I sleep a lot. I take vitamins. I send my college kid care packages and harass my twin high school seniors to get them through graduation and college admission. When its hard to deal with the pain from my newly diagnosed inflammatory disease I take a dropper of my cbd/thc tincture and thank the voters that I live in a state that's legal (I have declined the medications for my disease as they're immunosuppressive).
But mostly it is just putting one foot in front of the other, not subjecting other people to me unless I know that it's wanted, and watching stupid and/or funny you tube and other videos (thanks to Carytid's funny suggestion at the beginning of this fucking thing I am now super addicted to Karen videos since I no longer have to deal with them at work). And boring thc/cbd tinctures since I hate any feeling of high.
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In the beginning I feel like I coped pretty well and made sure everyone was busy and things like that. As it's dragged on I've mostly relied on retail therapy, which isn't great for the credit card.
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At first, I was coping well. Thriving, even; I'm an introvert, and staying alone in my apartment was - at first - absolutely great for my mood. But as time wears on, and on, and on, it's stopped being energizing and is draining, instead.
Aside from being worried about family and friends (particularly my elderly father), I've just felt very tired. It's hard to motivate myself for work, or even for play. I've been downloading/reinstalling various games - most of which I will play for a day, maybe two, before wandering away from. I tried to get out and get exercise when it was warmer, but lately it's been cold, rainy, and gets dark about the time I get off work.
At this point, I'm just a lump of sad, scattered anxiety and boredom.
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@pyrephox A lot of the people I work with have taken to booking themselves a slot of half an hour or an hour in their calendars at lunchtime, and going for a walk before it gets dark.
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@grayson Yeah. I thought about it. But again, lump of unmotivation and tiredness.
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I’m not.
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I am coping via almost 2000 hours in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (1965, to be exact) and a metric ass ton of UberEats/GrubHub/etc.
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Damnit. I love you guys. I'm sorry so many folks are having such a shitty time. I wish I was SURPRISED by that, but I am not really. I was hoping more people were doing better than me, though. Everybody else seems so chill to my...not-chill.
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I saw a fellow tenant last night, and she was carrying a baby carrier, and the last time I saw her, she was still in medium bump stage.
"You had the baby! Yay!"
"Yeah, he's five months old!""Jesus my understanding of time passing is so, so screwed up."
"Mine too!"I feel like I've been in a never ending winter.
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@macha said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:
I saw a fellow tenant last night, and she was carrying a baby carrier, and the last time I saw her, she was still in medium bump stage.
"You had the baby! Yay!"
"Yeah, he's five months old!""Jesus my understanding of time passing is so, so screwed up."
"Mine too!"I feel like I've been in a never ending winter.
On the one hand I can't believe it's December.
On the other hand I'm thrilled it's December because it means I haven't been caught up in my classic depression where time seems to slow to a crawl.At least if I'm going to be in rolling anxiety attacks and shit, time is passing at a good clip.
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I'm exhausted. My student nurses are exhausted and talk to me about how hard it is out there. The wards are worse than they were in March. I listen to them and realise how lucky I am but that doesn't negate the depression and fatigue. I'm using all the tricks of my trade to help me cope.
I'm looking for the helpers. I see my nurses pouring their hearts into their work, even when they are so tired. My charity guys just spent a month organising, collecting and then delivering hampers to people with nothing for Christmas. They're up there in our hall four times a week...
I don't know. My well of positivity is running out I think.
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@sunny said in How are you coping with COVID (and other 2020 fun)?:
Damnit. I love you guys. I'm sorry so many folks are having such a shitty time. I wish I was SURPRISED by that, but I am not really. I was hoping more people were doing better than me, though. Everybody else seems so chill to my...not-chill.
For me, there's a certain serenity in helplessness. The options available to me are so horrific as to not be options at all, and I'm fatalistic enough that when there are no options, I can be at peace with how things are even if I hate it. So, I guess there's a form of chill in it, for me? If that makes you feel any better.
(Admittedly that applies only to my personal circumstances and not the genocidal shitshow of mismanagement that put us here, but hey, I'll take what peace I can get these days.)
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Dealing with people - and RP definitely qualifies as dealing with people - has gotten gradually harder and harder as everyone's isolation and insecurities (my own included) have gotten doubled down on. So, it ebbs and flows. MUing definitely doesn't feel as escapist as it used to and with forever WFH screentime in general feels a bit more oppressive than it used so. So, the reading.
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I was working endless hours.
I came down with covid right before I was going to get vaccinated.
I was on the covid unit running about trying to help people when I realized I couldn't breath very well myself. Covid rapid test was postive and I got quickly rushed off the floor, ended up in the ER and briefly in the hospital. They were controlling my fever with cool iv fluids. I did have a very high viral load paired with exhaustion though. I was working every day about 14 hours a day at the time I got it. I am home doing better. Resting lots. Planning to go back to work when my quarantine ends. Not sure if I will mush or not during my off time, taking it day by day. -
I am thinking I might plan my spring garden. Which the fact that I can think about what to do while off work means I am doing much better!
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I was coping just like normal. I've spent the last 14 months too sick to do anything much but move from bed to sofa and back, so nothing much has changed for me. But I'll admit I am coping less than great with our hospitals shutting down all non-vital procedures for now because increasing pressure.
I understand why. It's just that after 14 months I finally had some light at the end of the tunnel, and that means a sentence of at least 2-3 more months in pain and fatigue hell.
Just going to go on escaping into virtual worlds everywhere.
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COVID has given me a massive existential crisis. I'm a preschool special educator and I love my job and get a ton of life satisfaction out of doing it well, more than I think I realized until this year. When put into a situation where it is impossible to do my job well, because I cannot meaningfully teach or asses or give my students the support they need through zoom lessons, its extremely disheartening. Like spending hours in tears disheartening as I imagine what it will be like for my students to move on to kindergarten next year without having really had the early interventions it is my job to give them.
My creativity has also taken a huge hit. I am trying to get back into regular rp because it is a social activity that is done on the internet and thus seems like the ideal thing to be into at this time. But much of the time when I try to play I just end up frustrated. I can't find my characters 'voice' or easily determine what they would feel or thing about a given situation, and I feel like rp with me is boring and frustrating more than fun. Still trying to be optimistic about this and keep attempting to get back into the swing however.
Otherwise I've been reading lots of books and binging lots of Netflix.
