Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably noticed that there's a global pandemic going on right now.
Like most people, I've gone in stages of taking this seriously. Let me just say that I'm pretty slow on the uptake anyway because I refuse to watch the news. I've largely relied on other people to tell me what's going on in the world because whenever I see anything related to the big giant Cheeto POTUS in the white house, I get angry. Seeing as how he is such a colossal idiot and he's always being featured on the news, I decided years ago that I won't subject myself to feeling some type of way and just stopped watching the news altogether. Which makes me fall a bit behind on things going on in the world like Corona virus.
When it all started I thought, "okay it's in China, it won't effect me."
Then it started to show up in other countries and I thought, "okay there are a few cases, but it's being contained."
And when it kept spreading because of the silent rate of infection I thought, "Okay. Time to be a little bit more careful, but I'm not going to stop living my life."
I have been on maternity leave and darling son and I were going out a few times a week for Mommy and Baby groups so I wasn't cooped up in the house all day. We also took walks through town, went to the markets, and did a little bit of shopping just to keep the day fun and interesting while hubby, Rob, was at work.
It was around the week before lock down in the UK that hubby started to get a little overprotective. He wanted me to stop going out, stop taking our son to baby groups, stop visiting with friends who wanted to see the baby. I was disapproving of his request, especially seeing as how the same rules did not apply to him. He was still working at the time, but beyond that it was okay for him to go out and do things and take our son to see his family and friends when he wanted to, but I just wasn't allowed to go out with him. Double standard much?
It was the week before lock down that I decided, "Fine, I won't take Henry to Baby Yoga this Friday if you're so worried, but we are going to do it together at home as a family. He needs baby yoga to help with his motor skills to prep him for crawling."
The following Monday was when Boris Johnston, the Prime Minister of the UK, addressed the nation saying that all non-essential contact should be avoided. He recommended that people avoid large gatherings and gatherings in smaller spaces such as pubs, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, bars, clubs, etc and that it was advised we all stay home. At this point it was only suggested....not decreed.
That night, my father in law (who runs a Hotel/Restaurant/Bar that my husband works at) decided to make the difficult decision of shutting the doors of his establishment. Even though people were only advised not to go out to pubs, my father in law thought of the safety of his staff and patrons and decided it was best for all to remove the business from the equation.
That week Rob helped his dad in closing up the business. Cancelling future rooms requests, locking up the store room supplies, and getting rid of the perishable food that was left at the hotel(either taking it home or giving to staff to take home). It was the last week we went out of the house for anything other than an occasional food shop or exercise because stricter rules were laid out later on in stages:
*Non-essential Travel is banned
*Non-essential business (Pubs, Gyms, Cafes, etc) are ordered to close
*Any one able to work from home should work from home
*Vulnerable people (elderly, pregnant women, & people with health conditions) should stay at home and NOT leave the house for any reason.
*Everyone else should remain home unless they are working, having 1 form of outdoor exercise a day, taking supplies to a vulnerable person, or to get essential supplies - food or medicine - themselves, and only when absolutely needed
*Where possible everyone must adhere to social distancing measures: only so many people allowed in shops at a time, keeping 2 Metres apart, washing hands frequently
*GATHERINGS of more than 2 people (unless you are from the same household) is banned in public
Until the government actually started to take action to ban things and close establishments, I was of the mindset that I will try and be safe...washing my hands, protecting myself with gloves and masks and sanitizing on top of that, going out when I know I could do it safely...but I still wasn't going to stop my life from ticking. When the stricter measures were put in place I began to get more and more cautious and limited going outside of my property to a bare minimum--I didn't even want to take walks or exercise outside because I knew I could do yoga at home.
Now I go for the occasional walk to help with my mental health (but still not anywhere near once a day), my husband does an online shop and goes out to collect it/ go to the butchers once a week (unless we can't get an online click and collect slot, in which case I go out and do a speed shop with my PPE). Occasionally, when we can't get Henry to sleep for his morning nap we will all go in the car together to the butchers/food shop. Henry falls asleep in the car, i stay in the car with him and hubby goes out to collect food then it's straight back home.
Other than that we are confined to our own little bubble. Rob does go out running every other day but he's smart about not getting close to other people and he showers immediately when he comes In fact whenever one of us enters the house after being outside we always thoroughly wash before touching anything in the house. The same goes for anything outside entering the house (post, parcels, food shop); everything gets wiped down and we wash after.
It's a strange turn of events and everyone has their own way of dealing with life as it is now, but I know that I've gotten more and more anxious as time goes on and I've started noticing certain anxiety ticks I have creeping back into my life (and even some new ones)...but more on that later.
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