Fear and chaos. These things make for fine TV drama, but in real life they tend to cause panic.
We are experiencing a global event that affects every human being on the planet. A virus, something so small that we can’t even see it, is forcing us to adapt and change, or face the prospect of crippling illness or even death. And even if we don’t get sick, scientists tell us that up to 70% of us will contract it—making us efficient conduits for its spread.
Pandemic is something we all learned about in school that happened to past generations. So as COVID19 made its way across the world onto our shores, we thought that surely it can’t be that bad. That surely the scientists would come up with a cure. That surely our lives won’t change that much.
Today we are mostly locked down into our homes and forced to hang out with people we care about most. People we have surely taken for granted as allies in life. People we fight with. Cry with. And love with.
They closed down the movie theaters. They cancelled sports and concerts. No one is flying. We are scared of running out of toilet paper. And food. We’re scared to touch hard surfaces, and our own faces. And when we do get to the market for sustenance, we’re hyper aware of the sound of a stranger’s cough or sneeze.
The result, at least for me, is a feeling of total discombobulation. Since rescuing our daughter from college last Monday, at a school 500 miles away, I have lost track of days. You probably have too. It’s not hard when the thing that is top-of-mind is something you have no control over.
The only thing I know right now is that I can’t take this alone in my own head or I will go crazy. I need more than my wife and teenage daughters to lean on.
I can only assume that you feel similarly.
Which is why I am opening my line of communications up to more than just Twitter and Facebook. If you need to speak to someone, I am here. Just DM me on any of the channels and I’ll gladly send you my phone number. We can talk. Text. Facetime. Whatever. We can share a laugh, or our darkest fears. Because even though I don’t know what the hell is going to happen to any of us, I do know that together is the only way we get through. And stay sane.
Ironically, without a cure in place, the only remedy for our current situation is isolation. I say let’s turn irony on its ear and do the exact opposite—join together.
DM me and let’s exchange numbers. Together we will make it through this. I’m sure of it.
Until then, much love to you. Don’t ever lose heart. Ever.
ps – I’d post my number here and on social streams but for the bots that thrive on those things. So DM is the only way.