How are you these days?

By Didi Gorman

When I first had the idea for this post, a few days ago, I thought I would write a mood-booster piece by pointing out a few positives that have emerged out of this surreal reality we’ve been subject to in the past few weeks.

I have to confess though, that focusing on anything bright and happy right now requires a contrived effort. If I’m being totally honest, the sense of overall doom and gloom is overwhelming.

Still, I’d like to highlight the sense of caring towards the elderly which is going strong around here. Last night, for example, I tried calling one of our senior neighbors several times but the line was constantly busy. Eventually, when I finally managed to get hold of him, it turned out I was the third person that day to offer running errands for him. He felt very cared for and that was truly heart-warming. Add to that the walk we had just taken outside, what with the fresh air and physical activity, and indeed I felt a little better.

Too bad the feel-good effect did not last long. Soon after that, I went to the grocery store to be faced with the dystopic reality of empty shelves, most notably of canned foods, pasta, and toilet paper. And I’m not using the word dystopic lightly here. Who would have thought we’d get to that? To shortages due to mass-panic, in a wealthy, abundant, peaceful, secure, safe country such as Canada?

So allow me to feel down that life has stopped and our sense of normalcy has been broken. Allow me to worry not only about our physical health but about our mental stability too.

Allow me NOT to launch a homeschooling schedule, because even as it is, I'm struggling to keep working full-time from home.

Now for the question, “How are you these days?”

To be honest, not too great. Hanging in there, I guess. How about you?