God you poor thing - thank you for sharing this. Like you, I am bewildered that people are behaving as though Covid no longer exists and if it does exist, hey no big deal. I did a gig a few weeks ago when I was at the start of what seems to be a never-ending cold, and I took a test, because I would have rather missed the gig (and the money) than give Covid to my fellow singers. I didn't have to, I would have been perfectly within my rights not to, ,but how could I know who might be more vulnerable:? I'm seeing a lot more people with masks at the moment, and I am one of them if I'm surrounded by people coughing and sneezing. Because I don't see why I should get any of their germs, and lose work and money, because that's the self-employed life. Blimey, this is almost as long as your post!
Have you come across the ENO Breathe programme? Might be useful x
Oh Marieeee firstly Thank You thank you for not only ending with the puppies and kittens but even for making me laugh in the last paragraph (when it might seem least possible to laugh?? Omg that issue in itself is distressing…what to do? I will follow to wherever the next healthy platform is to read from..) but thank you for writing this post in the first place. Because yes I do remember aaall the way back to glandular fever and this is different and you have different things to cope with but also clearly more equipped now for a new multi dimensional way of understanding what to do and how to cope. Which is fab and I love reading your writing! But it’s so awful what you’re describing and yes that is So vivid to me when you write- it’s as if we are meant to assume Covid has finished- but for many of us in various ways it hasn’t - I too feel, in different ways, that I’m still living with a Covid hangover, as it hangs over what I did and what I do and over my perspective somehow. But then there was a triple negative somewhere in the depth of your post which I almost didn’t understand but the beautiful thing is I read on and understood exactly what you elaborated next. So it seems it was a good realisation you came to, and that you wrote this!
Hey Marie, you don't know me but I've been following you for years - all the way back since Struggling Author, when I was also a struggling author. You kept me such good company then, as I sat at my desk struggling - and I was very grateful for that! I'm so sorry to learn that you have long covid. I've been through a lot of non-author struggles in the last few years because my teenage daughter developed a chronic illness, and both of us had to adapt to changes and restrictions, and learn to accept her new reality. It's taught me the importance of how we think about our illnesses and how we respond to them and talk to ourselves about them. And it sounds like you have come a long long way from where you started and that you're doing brilliantly in terms of working out what's best for you. Sending you all the hugs and empathy I can squeeze into a substack comment. Sarah x
God you poor thing - thank you for sharing this. Like you, I am bewildered that people are behaving as though Covid no longer exists and if it does exist, hey no big deal. I did a gig a few weeks ago when I was at the start of what seems to be a never-ending cold, and I took a test, because I would have rather missed the gig (and the money) than give Covid to my fellow singers. I didn't have to, I would have been perfectly within my rights not to, ,but how could I know who might be more vulnerable:? I'm seeing a lot more people with masks at the moment, and I am one of them if I'm surrounded by people coughing and sneezing. Because I don't see why I should get any of their germs, and lose work and money, because that's the self-employed life. Blimey, this is almost as long as your post!
Have you come across the ENO Breathe programme? Might be useful x
https://www.eno.org/breathe/
Oh Marieeee firstly Thank You thank you for not only ending with the puppies and kittens but even for making me laugh in the last paragraph (when it might seem least possible to laugh?? Omg that issue in itself is distressing…what to do? I will follow to wherever the next healthy platform is to read from..) but thank you for writing this post in the first place. Because yes I do remember aaall the way back to glandular fever and this is different and you have different things to cope with but also clearly more equipped now for a new multi dimensional way of understanding what to do and how to cope. Which is fab and I love reading your writing! But it’s so awful what you’re describing and yes that is So vivid to me when you write- it’s as if we are meant to assume Covid has finished- but for many of us in various ways it hasn’t - I too feel, in different ways, that I’m still living with a Covid hangover, as it hangs over what I did and what I do and over my perspective somehow. But then there was a triple negative somewhere in the depth of your post which I almost didn’t understand but the beautiful thing is I read on and understood exactly what you elaborated next. So it seems it was a good realisation you came to, and that you wrote this!
Hey Marie, you don't know me but I've been following you for years - all the way back since Struggling Author, when I was also a struggling author. You kept me such good company then, as I sat at my desk struggling - and I was very grateful for that! I'm so sorry to learn that you have long covid. I've been through a lot of non-author struggles in the last few years because my teenage daughter developed a chronic illness, and both of us had to adapt to changes and restrictions, and learn to accept her new reality. It's taught me the importance of how we think about our illnesses and how we respond to them and talk to ourselves about them. And it sounds like you have come a long long way from where you started and that you're doing brilliantly in terms of working out what's best for you. Sending you all the hugs and empathy I can squeeze into a substack comment. Sarah x