I’ve been behind on posting blog articles, or at least I feel I’ve been. The COVID-19 happenings around the world, the shutdown of stores, the shelter orders (of which my home State of Delaware has one) had my mind spinning and ignited my depression.
I know this isn’t the end of the world, though I acknowledge how my day-to-day life has greatly changed. I no longer work at Baltimore Playhouse because they’ve temporarily closed. I no longer spend time with friends because of social distancing. I hid my Plenty of Fish (POF) profile since now isn’t a good time to meet new people.
I told myself, I’d throw myself into rewriting my memoir. It’s been waiting to be edited for quite some time. However, I found myself spending most of my time on the sofa, watching crappy movies on YouTube, and eating a pint of ice cream just about every day. I know, my life choices were horrible.
Once the shelter order was announced for Delaware, I felt a slight panic. I felt trapped. I knew it was psychological. Grocery stores and establishments that sold food would still be open and I could still go outside. There’s a beautiful park not far from me that’s nice for walking when the weather permits.
However, being told to stay inside played tricks on my mind. I shared my feelings with my partner and he invited me to stay with him until the order was lifted, or at least for a few weeks. He left the timeframe open. The order was scheduled to go into effect on March 24th. The phone call with my partner was on March 22nd. On March 23rd, I packed a bag of clothing, a bag of food stuffs and toiletries, and my laptop and some books, and drove down to his place. I really did feel the need to get out of Delaware before the 24th, as if I’d never be able to leave. As I mentioned, I did feel slightly panicked.
Being with him is great for me in many ways, primarily because he doesn’t watch television shows. Like, really, no television shows. He has Netflix and I think HULU, but rarely even watches those. His apartment is quiet, making it a great place to gather my thoughts and be proactive with my WIP. He’d been ordered to work from home a couple weeks ago, so while he’s working, I’m working on my memoir.
I do miss watching movies, but not as much as I thought. I do still, however, watch an occasional YouTube video, though my interest isn’t like it used to be. See, what happened is that editing my memoir has taken over my time. I get up, have breakfast, open my laptop, plug in my flash drive, find where I left off the session prior, and start retyping. When I get to a good place to break, when my stomach speaks to me, I have lunch. We both stop working around 1900, we walk his dog, come back, and fix dinner. He may read a book later and I’m back on my laptop.
I’m enjoying this routine, making the most of being out of my typical environment. Also, it’s nice cuddling up to him as I fall asleep and seeing his handsome face when we wake up in the morning. Oh, the bonuses of being here!
I wasn’t going to post an article this week and finally decided to. I’m done for now working on my memoir and will be fixing dinner soon. So, I took some time to write this piece to say that I do hope you all are finding ways to fill your time; that if you’re feeling down or dealing with depression that you have an outlet; that you’re staying as safe as possible and your families are well.
I’d love to hear how you’re passing the time even if it’s a struggle to get through the day. You don’t have to keep your feelings bottled up inside. I will reply to comments here and on my social media. Let’s connect and stay connected.
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Thanks for reading and commenting!
