I was really hating myself for being behind on everything and then I came across this from Binchcity and it was exactly what I needed to read.
You’re not alone, y’all.
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Hailey wrote a 10 minute play for school called Happy Fun Times and it won the audience choice award last night! So proud of them.
My doctor is ghosting me.
May we all have as much joy as Dorothy Barker when the treat drawer opens.
Dear anonymous stranger who left this for me: you saved me right back. Thank you.
ALL THE COOL KIDS ADVERTISE HERE:
I fucking love these people & not just because they support my wine-slushee habit:
Thanks Jenny for sharing this.
Thank you. I have been sleeping and eating so much I feel like a sloth or lazy lion or something.
I just keep waking up every morning. Goals accomplished.
Working on feeling normal. Whatever that is.
@WriterDann
Here’s the truth: For the last week and half I have reported 8 hours a weekday…. I can definitively tell you that my level of effort is truly below 20%. It sucks and I beat myself up for it but not too much. This is so very hard. ❤️
Yup, this is the perfect wake-up call. Nothing is “normal” at the moment. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We got this. One step at a time. I think.
Trying everyday but its become hard. Neighbor decided that hot tub needs to be on day and night, noise making me crazy. Has motor blowing into my yard and house. sleeping with ear plugs and white noise machine.Town trying to help but sleeping has become an issue. hate neighbors!!
I absolutely needed to see this today. I think there’s no moving forward until we all acknowledge that this is so far away from normal that if it got any further we’d come back from the other way around. Thank you for this!
If you view any social media it will make you feel like everyone else is thriving on new exercise routines and carry out food while they learn a third language and coding. Me I am sleeping…a lot.
❤❤
We had spaghetti for lunch … substituting the tomato sauce (none available at store) with condensed tomato soup. New normal? Dunno … but it was delicious and I was grateful for every mouthful!
Is that Monica Lewinsky?
I think I am in suspension or encased in gelatin while we all just wait. Right now, no normal.
But I hope when we come out we build a normal highlighting those who stepped up and helped.
Do it is just fine to live in Jello for awhile and plan for the new normal.
Thank you so much, Jenny! As others have said, this is perfect. All of us need to remember not to blame ourselves for feeling bad. This is a serious and sad situation, worldwide. When it’s sad, you’re supposed to cry. To do otherwise, i.e., to hold it all in, is to deny the sadness, which doesn’t do us or those we weep for any good. Let those tears out, and by doing so offer succor to those others who are also suffering. If you are the one suffering, cry twice as much. Acknowledge the pain. It may sound trite by now, but we really are all in this together. Let’s hold hands around the world. It’s not human touch, which we’re all missing right now, but it helps, believe me. ❤️❤️
I’m trying to remain calm and do what I’m told but it’s SO hard right now. I am so angry and frustrated I can’t even.
Time moves differently
Nobody is required to be productive during this time. I have to tell myself that too almost daily. These are unprecedented times. We just need to live as best as we can. We’ll all get through this.
Boom! Yes indeed! I started a blog in order to not focus on the deaths of my family and dog and my inability to acquire employment! We live in a violent neighborhood and don’t have a yard and… it’s a bit much. But… if you’re looking for a laugh which is why I try to inspire, please check out my homage to our dead dog. It takes at least five minutes to read and has photos and gifs and is wonderfully distracting. And maybe some of you can empathize with owning a mastiff who plays dead (and I mean LITERALLY and not metaphorically… I realize many of us feeling barely alive). 🖤 We are not alone, no. We will get through this. (I switched from Google to Mozilla because Google is evil and.. see I cannot attach a link to my blog so… manually, here : https://epileptaste.wordpress.com/2020/05/19/homage-to-our-dead-dog-hemi/
I’m struggling. Thank you for reminding me that this too is ok.
Thank you. I am not functioning well either.
Thank you Jenny, you always seem to know just what we all need,when we need it. I lost my 22 yr old nephew ( also my godson) on Easter. Not pandemic related. Its awful to lose ANYONE (pets included) at any time,but not to be able to have a proper wake or burial is horrible. Thank you for just being you.
Even this page isn’t functioning normally, at least on my computer. The comments start all the way over on the left and are obscured by the pictures there. So hey, no worries. Even the computers have viruses.
I have an online friend who is working through some medication changes, and sharing all of his stuff about it (which is great, IMO). Every now and again when he’s mentioning how much he’s sleeping, I try to remind him that everyone is sleeping a lot right now, and nothing is normal. Perspective helps sometimes.
And, Anonymous #21, that’s terrible – I’m sorry for your loss.
Needed this today! Thank you Jenny for always putting a smile on my face and making me feel like I’m doing OK.
Thank you, Jenny.. this helps so much. I’ve been trying to move forward with things despite feeling like I’m downhearted Atreyu in the Swamp of Sadness (The never ending story). I go from ok to maybe joyful for two seconds to totally overwhelmed/angry in two seconds flat. I’m trying desperately to make this new place my husband and just moved into (rental) a home despite Covid, but it feels impossible, as our place has been hardly liveable/functional since we moved in less than three weeks ago, all thanks to the property management company who clearly did NOT do any kind of inspection/repairs whatsoever before we moved in.
It’s even more important now more than ever that where we live is a home…. and we’re not there yet. I feel responsible for that. At the moment I feel like a frustrated inspector, a babysitter, and a general contractor. It’s not little things that are broken.. it’s big things, as in “Money Pit” big..that movie from the 80’s.The trailer sums up our situation nicely:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TLLQquBdU8M
Last night I broke.. I cried about a cockroach I found in the garage because I’m weirdly extremely afraid of them. Couple all of this with Covid and all my coping cherries are zilch. I would sum up what we’re all going through with a post that wonderful Allie Brosh wrote and illustrated years ago…. sneaky hate spiral…. on steroids!
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/05/sneaky-hate-spiral.html?m=1
Candi #7: sending you love and understanding—I’ve been there. Are you a fellow misophonic? People don’t appreciate that terrible fight or flight response that noises can trigger in us. I wish I could do more to help but…check if your town has a sound ordinance that sets a decibel limit; if yes, use an app to get a rough estimate of how loud the hot tub is. You could also maybe work with your neighbor to install a sound baffle for some noise reduction. Anyway, you are not alone, my dear. I know what you’re going through.
I keep forgetting things like washing my hair or doing laundry..All I really want to do is read and drink coffee.
Thank you, Jenny. Not only is the pandemic going on, but my dad’s in hospice at home now. I try to help him and my mom as much as possible, but it’s really difficult because I don’t want to put them at risk. My mom is his main caretaker, and she’s really stressed out, but she’s been a rock throughout Dad’s illness.
Plus I’m not getting many hours at work at all, and my checking account’s negative, and I have thousands of dollars in medical bills to pay. I have no idea how I’m going to do that. Before the pandemic I did a lot of pet sitting as a part time job and was able to keep afloat, but that income is gone now, so I’m so broke that it scares me. My wife pays our household bills and helps me some, but $ is tight for her too.
I’m so sad about my dad that there aren’t enough tears to cry. I’ve never been so broke before, and I can’t burden my mom with this. She has more than enough going on right now. But I’m scared shitless about this.
Thank you for reminding me that it’s OK and for letting me unload here.
Because I can’t stand myself right now. I’ve been sick since April 12th. I am so tired of being sick every time I wake up in the morning. My bipolar, anxiety kicking in. Bad thoughts happening. Sorry for wasting anyone’s time reading this.
(You are not alone, sweetness. Reach out to people who can help. Ive called crisis lines more than once. Sending you so much love. ~ Jenny)
Amy #30 above: You are not alone. Use your coping skills. If they aren’t working for you, call your local crisis line for help. Depression and anxiety lie. Don’t believe the lies. We are sending love and comfort and healing your way.
Amen y’all, amen. I keep forgetting we are all a mess and there’s no reason to try and pretend otherwise.
Thanks Jenny!!! I personally feel like I’m losing my mind. ❤️
Thanks,I really needed that right now. I am a horrible, anxious mess, and today I only got 2 hours of sleep because of it. We’re all falling apart together.
An appreciated message. Thank you. She’s right. No one is functioning normally. Even the Pinterest people who are all “I’m using this time to teach calculus to my toddler and cooking gourmet meals for my gerbil.” We see what people WANT us to see on social media. They rarely show us the moments where their gerbil lime-infused brie snack sticks go in the trash and their toddler just refuses to grasp the concept of integrals.
Amy #20, I’m so sorry this is happening to you. #21 is right — depression LIES. I suffer from depression, generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD and they are cruel mistresses. I was right where you are about 3 weeks ago. Had to go to a psych hospital to do a med change and it was … bad. I hope you can summon up the strength to reach out and get help. Your mention of “bad thoughts” scares me. Even if you aren’t suicidal, please call the suicide prevention hotline at 877-727-4747. They are extremely nice people trained to help you. If nothing else, you can get some of those thoughts out of your head. During my recent episode, I called them 3 times in one week. I also worked with my psychiatrist and therapist. There’s always hope and you are worthy. Hugs from So Cal.
I love each and every one of you.
I love you all, especially the cranky ones, the broken ones, the ones who can’t shower or brush their teeth today, the ones who are crabby and weepy and frumpy. You are my people, and I understand you and it’s okay to not be okay. We will all be not okay together, and we will crawl, roll, wiggle and rant and rage onwards because tomorrow might be a teensy, weensy, little bit less sucky than today, or maybe the day after that, or the following day. But we will never know if it gets less sucky if we don’t hold on, hold out hope, don’t lose hope. Sending my love and hugs and compassion for all of us out to the universe. Be kind to yourself, because you deserve kindness.
Personally, now the reentry is starting to scare me. My therapist offered me an in person appointment and I told her she was out of her damn mind!
Yes. My issue is envy of people who have all the time in the world now to do projects, crafts, read, bake, cook, all the deep cleaning that never gets done, and so on – whose biggest issue is filling their time. My work (and I am ETERNALLY THANKFUL to have it) has me slammed. No time for anything extra. Sigh…
When you link to Instagram all I (probably we) see is a big box with a little tiny instagram logo.
AMEN
Thank you doesn’t seem like enough. …But thank you! Your posts make me laugh when I need to and make me feel not so alone or weird. A dear friend of mine struggles with depression and anxiety and he is going through some horrific things right now. I have sent him links to your posts and I am convinced that sometimes they have saved him from himself. So just…thank you.
Amy – to echo what others have said, you are not alone… But also, you are not wasting anyone’s time who is reading your message either! You **are** important, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise (including your own brain!). Please reach out for help, whether or be a friend, family member or hotline. My anxiety has been at it’s worst also, and some days it’s just a struggle to get out of bed. We all love you, even if we don’t know you!
Feel blessed you can pick your own hours
I work 24/7 in this pandemic
No time off since August 2019
Barely time for any hobbies
I work for a very corrupt property company
And feel trapped right now
The girl in the photo is Colleen Corby, a popular 60’s fashion model.
So true. I live in rural n.w. Wisconsin, where we have had exactly 31 cases and 1 death in our county — so we are not exactly a hot spot — and I am having to force myself to do stuff. We will all have some version of PTSD from this.
The articles posted on this blog page are very interesting and useful
functioning normally. thank you for writing and sharing about this
thanks for infromation