My Corona Journal: Quarantine Day 1 & 2

This was supposed to be my year, but as of this month shit has officially hit the fan, and for once it’s not just a me problem. The world is in a really scary place right now. It was worrisome when it was happening in China. Things got even more scary as it started to spread across Europe. And now that the Coronavirus is here in the US, I’m not even sure my brain knows how to process all this.

So right now, if this was anything else, this would be the point where I break down what the Coronavirus is, why it is so scary, and what people are doing. However, I’m horrible at explaining technical things like this, just not my forte, and considering this is effecting everyone, literally everywhere, anyone who happens to take the time to read this, even years from now, should know what I’m talking about. So instead, I’m just going to move along and share my experience thus far. (I apologize for any inappropriate or snarky humor I have used or will use, this is my stress reflex and how I have survived everything crappy that has ever happened to me.)

Although health and government officials have been preaching self quarantine and social distancing for a few weeks now, as of about an hour ago the Governor of California announced a “Safer at Home” order, essentially telling everyone to stay home and for all non-essential businesses to shut down.

For a lot of people, self quarantine or isolation or whatever else you want to call it has been going on for about a week now. The company I work for, however, held on as long as they could and didn’t officially shut down until Tuesday. Meaning today is technically only my second day of “self quarantine.”

Having seen what happened in Hawaii, when a hurricane was expected to approach, my husband and I semi-anticipated things getting a little crazy a few weeks ago and went ahead and took the “better safe than sorry approach.” We didn’t do the crazy Karen hoarding shopping, we simply put together our long over due earthquake kit, made sure we had all our basic grocery essentials, and threw in a few basic cleaning and medical supplies. Thanks to all that, we didn’t have to spend too much time in all the craziness that took place towards the end of last week and continues to take place daily it seems.

My mom’s assisted living facility went on lock down this past weekend, which I luckily warned my mom might happen, but it’s not making things any easier. Her being non-verbal essentially and the most stubborn person in the world, she is not taking this well. And I already miss her so much. It’s so hard to have a conversation with her, without seeing her in person, but despite that she has already called me three times in the last two days. Two of those calls she was crying. I just keep reminding her that we’ve been apart longer and that if we all do what we are supposed to do things will go back to normal, hopefully sooner rather than later.

They made the announcement to shutdown her facility to all visitors on Saturday and at the time said it was for two weeks. That’s what I keep telling my mom, but I fear it will be much longer. Fingers crossed I’m wrong.

So what have I been doing and how do I plan to spend my time in self quarantine?

Well, I promised myself I would be super productive and get so many of my projects off the ground while I’m stuck at home. Yesterday, I failed horribly.

Despite waking up at 7:30am, already later than I had planned, I ended up going back to bed at 8 and sleeping until about 9:30. I even took a nap at 4 o’clock after my husband left for work. The entire day wasn’t a loss though. I did take the time to finish detailing the inside of our Subaru, but that was about the extent of my productivity.

Today I promised I’d do better, and I did…kinda. I got up at 7:15, slight improvement. And I kept moving the entire day! I helped the husband mow the lawn and sweep. We finally started to tackle the mess that is our room, and we even mopped. And now I’m working on my projects…like this blog.

Although, I have no idea how long this quarantine is going to last, I’m hoping to be as productive as I can moving forward. I want to get this blog polished up. Get some new content up and maybe even back log a few pieces for when life gets crazy again. Even if I can’t start it, I also want to get everything in place to launch my new podcast. Big priority for me is to workout more, get back in the habit.

Some other things I’d like to do include –

• Getting more serious with my one book a month goal
• Re-Exploring my t-shirt plans
• Playing with video editing
• Getting my stress and anxiety under control – Meditation/Yoga maybe?

I also, want to make sure I document what is happening. And that is where this post and my new category – My Corona Journal come in. Although this is happening to literally everyone, it is life changing and it’s something I should probably document, even if it’s just for myself. I thought about vlogging, but I hate my voice and as you see on my goal list, I’m not great with videos yet. I also thought right now would be a great time to start my own personal journal again, but I’m not great at holding myself personally accountable, especially when I’m out of practice. So here we are…

I probably won’t write daily, as I’m hoping things won’t be that exciting, and I still plan on posting my more “regular” content, but every few days I will try to be sure that I at least write a short something about how things are changing or what I’ve been up to. Just like everything else tied to this blog, I’m not sure what I’m doing, but hopefully as I do it, it will turn into something.