COVID 19 for me was a challenge. At the end of October, it was time to update the website with a different and “new to me” website hosting company. This process was going to take some time to change from one to the other, mainly because I wanted to do it myself.

As is usual, it took longer than it could have. It was a process, to say the least. But change can be refreshing, rejuvenating, and very educational. It all worked out and I learned so much.

Getting back to the blog

One thing I learned long ago is that some things just take time so don’t rush, just keep going! So that is what I did and it was slow going. What suffered was keeping my posts coming every once in a while.

Apologies to you for the delay in getting back to sharing stories, wisdom and my experiences as a woman after 50. Welcome back to the conversation with me on many, many topics as we live life after 50. Shall we get started!

Experiences and adventures

Those of us who are lucky enough to have experienced post-secondary education, marriage, raising children, and working in volunteer and paid employment opportunities to realize now just how busy we were in those early years.

Did we think that at this stage of 50 years and up, we really and truly would be able to step back and slow down? However, many of us “Life after 50ers” in all reality are now in the most “busy times in life” and not just for only women but for men too!

In the early years of nesting, we were busy being involved with careers, having and raising children, growing careers, and finances. Now the babies that have grown into young adults are now ready to be pushed out of the nest to see how to cope on their own.

Then you have the ones that successfully left your nest and have set up their own nest. There are those that need help from Mom and /or Dad once in a while too. They may even have their own babies.

On top of that we are taking on more and more support for the aging members in our families at a time we should feel less structure, more freedom

Life has many cycles

Most of these changes are part of the life cycle that is ever-changing and in reality is something we subconsciously go along with, not giving much thought to it. It can rattle our thoughts, how we deal with others, get feelings that we don’t know how to deal with and cause physical issues like migraines and anxiety.

It has been said that the most extensive changes one will deal with over their lifetime are 1) marriage, 2) birth, 3) separation/divorce, 4) moving and 5) death. I have experienced all of these at some point. And now we have the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID 19 is sooo scary!

And now as we continue to deal with all that normal life-changing stuff, we are dealing with the coronavirus or COVID19 too. It started far away in China just before and after Christmas.

This has turned most of our lives around and upside down. 

Just after Christmas, I was vaguely aware of COVID 19, what it was and the implications. I do food demo samples where we give you nibbles of food or beverages to taste.

After the Christmas holidays, a cohort of mine shared with us what was going on in China. This “Covid thing”, was thought to be a virus that started through the wet markets in Wuhan. To her, it was extremely obvious that it was going to come to North America. It did!

The start of the panic

This is when the panic for toilet paper and paper towels happened and the people were jamming up right behind each other, running to beat the guy in front of them walking and literally pushing others out of the way. It was not a nice thing to witness.

Each day at work, there were more and more protocols we had to follow. The first was wearing gloves, which was mandatory when serving samples so that was no big deal and wiping down carts as customers came in. The big deal was the customers breathing down the back of your neck.

Then came the personnel distancing of 6 feet apart but customers felt that didn’t mean between us and them. They would come right up a foot away and then get ticked when asked to step back. We did not have masks at this point either, only our gloves.

At that point, it was a high risk to be in the stores. Now stores provide barriers at the cash, distancing and having customers only going one direction. Then we were offered a layoff. I took that in a heartbeat!

What wasn’t evident through all this was the effect it had overall emotionally, psychologically and physically. You see from mid-January on, the worry and stress of possibly catching the virus started taking its toll. It was constantly on my mind. The more it took the more I turned inward to cope. So it became work, sleep and then repeat. That was not any kind of existence

Oh no! I’m laid off

Once laid-off I sleep 12 to 14 hours for about 10 days, had bad, bad anxiety, no desire to go outside of my home. It was then I realized that the emotional stress of subconsciously worrying about coming in contact with the virus had taken a toll on me.

Corona Virus or COVID-19 is such a nasty force, with multiple parts and quirks. It will be a long time before we know all about it and can successfully produce a viable vaccine. Meanwhile, it is important to be vigilant. 

More normal reality is very possible. Now I am focusing on myself and my aspirations with these ways to cope.

6 ways I’m coping right now

• practice 6 meters physical distance
• ride the elevator by myself or 1 other because our elevator is 5 x 7 feet
• wear gloves and a mask
• use wipes and hand sanitizer
• try to remain at home. I have been out 3 times in 4.5 weeks and go during seniors time
• buy online. I have set up grocery shopping online and they deliver too with no contact.

It’s OK to not feel up to doing much

It is a coping mechanism of your body to protect you and as such can make you feel like not doing much. Our bodies know we are under many different kinds of stress and will caution you by slowing you down.

Things for coping with “distancing in place”

This week I started doing these few things for coping through the distancing in place.

Some ideas you may want to try

• Meditation/Affirmations
• Fitness
• Hygge; to read what this is, go here
• Sewing, macrame
• I have found my grocery store has online ordering with delivery. I am signed up and getting that. Check it out in your neighbourhood.

In conclusion, I thank those who hung around waiting for this long overdue post and for those just getting involved. Welcome to you all.

If we take it one day at a time we will get through this and remember, “you are never given more than you can handle”.

Drop me a comment below on how your life has changed due to the virus. I would love to see how folks are making out!