This COVID-19 situation is wearing on everyone. Some of us have reacted by wandering into Dealey Plaza [I don’t understand why people thought that was questionable. It’s not as though anything bad has happened there before].
An associate texted the other day. Earlier this year, I got this handsome wedding invitation.
The text was less handsome. He explained he had to postpone the wedding until August because of the ban on large gatherings.
As a caring friend, I suggested this COVID-19 situation was orchestrated by his fiance to back out of the wedding.
But as this whole rigmarole [or “hullabaloo,” if you will] has dragged on, people are worrying more and more about their health, their career and their finances.
Today, I talked to a counselor who just got a grant for remote mental health counseling.
In particular, she says police, firefighters and paramedics are getting hit hard right now. First, they have a bunch of new steps when they get called out. Plus, they’re responding to calls they haven’t dealt with before.
This week, a company in North Texas donated some kind of sanitizer to paramedics and police and fire departments in the area. It’s not, like, hand sanitizer. Sorry for such a scientific explanation, but it’s some sort of thing that creates some sort of barrier, so you can put it on your hands and face before you leave for a call.
Those donations can be a pick-me-up and show we’re still looking out for each other. But we’re all starting to feel burnout, though.
A survey shows 45% of us have had it with work.
A quarter of us cite the pandemic as the cause. We’re under more stress, and that can affect our job performance. For instance, one of our anchors introduced me as “Alice” this morning.
And because I’m no expert in pressing buttons, our producer has asked if my feed dropped out because there was such a large gap between my voice and the soundbite. Why do buttons have to be so complicated?!
Because I’m spending more time at home, I’ve been getting more creative with my trips to the store. I’m not completely sure why, but I decided to buy muffins the other day.
Then something caught my eye. An homage to my days in SuperOregon.
“So, like, a watermelon soda?!” I exclaimed toward the heavens. “They figured out how to grow watermelons with caffeine in them?!”
A reporter asks.
So I’m dealing with the stress from work by cluttering up my freshly cleaned counter. I just noticed as I was writing that I’ve now got a 12 pack of watermelon soda sitting on top of my “essential worker” form.
In conclusion, the counselor made a strong point: If you feel overwhelmed by COVID-19, you should limit your time with media. Except this blog [Note from Smart Counseling: We did not say anything about this blog].
