Where to even begin?   The entire world has come to a standstill.  Life as we know it is changed forever.  Every single human being is at risk and I don’t mean just because of the virus.   The suffering is immense, calamitous, devastating and will have ripple effects for a very long time to come.   As the days blur together and the imprisonment continues, even among this most insidious feeling of dread, I have moments where I’m filled with hope.

For years of my life I self-quarantined due to my ennui and unhappiness.   I wanted nothing more than to hide away from the world and be free of relationships (or so I thought).   What I didn’t know then was how my sensitivity, empathy and intuition were gifts and not hindrances to a life filled with meaning and joy.  Now, as it is necessary to stay inside and not have any face to face social interaction, I miss it.   I already miss many things…i.e., shopping for food without worrying someone is too close to me or that the items on my list will be stocked and plentiful at that.   I miss meeting my friends and drinking a glass of wine. I experience constant anxiety that the virus is on my hands and I’m always hearing a voice in my head saying don’t touch your face even though I have an itch.  The list goes on and on.

I’ve been reading many opinions of what the bigger picture of this could be.   Some say the earth needed a break, others that this is a shift that will change the framework of our existence and move into a time of greater spirituality and connection.   So much information is coming at us like a bullet train and it is up to me to decide what and how much I want to look at and take in.    It’s easy to be consumed with worry, doubt, fears about the decimation of the economy etc… What’s challenging and also interesting is trying to be present, stay in the moment and not collapse over what may or may not happen.

I think a lot about how animals are perceiving this change in their surroundings.  So many pets are accustomed to long periods of time without their humans and now they’re together constantly.   I think about the anxiety of many and how their animals are working hard to comfort them and make them feel loved and safe.   Once again, in a time of crisis, our animals show up for us.