Day 3 of COVID-19 California Lockdown

     Today has started out well in that I'm treating this life a normal day. This year, I decided to make Sundays "self-care Sunday" and to this end, I got up and discovered some new YouTube channels like Fordy Runs which provide me with way to get a run in without having to leave home through turning treadmill virtual run videos into a running workout. Today I did an hour virtual run through the streets of London and was surprised how sweaty I got as well as how much I enjoyed seeing different scenery versus what I see everyday when hubby and I take an afternoon walk around our nearby park.

     In other news, I've been plugging away with reading books for the two reading challenges I'm doing this year which are the 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge and the the 2020 Mommy Mannegren 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge. I just finished reading "Food Junkies" by Dr. Vera Tarman. This book is insightful in that it talks about food addiction as well as overeating, obesity, and eating disorders.

We went out briefly yesterday to get medicine and were surprised that there we no thermometers to be found. I tried to buy a thermometer on Amazon and although I found a low cost thermometer, I felt uncomfortable paying $55.98 for shipping and also having to wait until May for the thermometer to arrive. In addition, although some people were practicing social distancing, most people were not so we made sure to self distance ourselves from others. As time progresses, I think that people are going to wish that they had taken this pandemic more seriously but all I can do is work to protect me and hubby. 

Another issue I'm having is COVID-19 information overload and feeling emotionally drained by all the social media posts and online articles. I'm working towards finding a balance between being informed and not feeling overwhelmed.Self care is important no matter if it's 5 minutes or an hour so make sure if you're reading this to take some time to disconnect from all the pandemic news and reconnect with yourself. Stay safe & well!

Day 2 of COVID-19 California Lockdown

     Continuing to keep calm by doing regular daily routines of exercising first thing in the morning as well as bi-weekly washing of hair. Due to Rona and the whole social distancing situation, I told Den that I didn't feel comfortable going to church since it's a gathering of older people and every Saturday after church services, we have group lunch and everyone sits next to eat other and talk. I have a feeling we're going to stay home from church for the foreseeable future to protect ourselves.

     Another way we've decided to protect ourselves from Rona is to start wearing disposable gloves and a mask when we go to public places such as grocery stores, restaurants, and pharmacies. Although there haven't been any confirmed cases of Rona in Kings County, we feel it's smart to protect our hands, nose, and mouths from any germs that may be out in public spaces. Having said all this, I was surprised when we received a somewhat hostile reaction from two men as we were paying for medicine at CVS yesterday. The men noticed we were wearing gloves and a face mask and asked why were we wearing those since there were no confirmed cases in our county. My hubby responded that we're protecting ourselves from germs and the many responded that we were being silly and he didn't believe that the virus is that serious. Hubby responded "ok" and we got our items and left the store. During the car ride home, hubby commented "so this is what Noah must've felt like when he was building the ark; people are laughing at him for what he's doing. Once the flood started, those that laughed at him in the past were now the people begging to be let on the ark."

      On to a new topic, yesterday was my first day of working from home and by this, I mean posting things to the library's social media accounts, checking my work email and voicemail for the library's reference desk phone. While I thought it would be easy to create a separation between work and home life, I now realize this is harder than I thought it would be. Mainly I realize that when I'm doing work, I need to do it at a separate space such as our kitchen table so I can focus on the task at hand without any distractions.

     Well, this is my update for the day. Stay safe & well!

Day 1 of COVID-19 California Lockdown

    With the arrival of COVID-19 (coronavirus) aka "Rona" to the United States and growing numbers of people being diagnosed, this has caused panic and pandemonium as well as anxiety and stress among everyone. Grocery stores shelves are empty of bread, toilet tissue, water and oddly enough, female hygiene products. Luckily, there have been no confirmed cases of Rona in my county so far. In response to Rona, my library system is now closed from today with a tentative return date of Monday, April 13th. Although  the library is closed, all staff are on call and are expected to act as disaster workers if called upon by our county CAO office.

     Last night, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a state wide shelter in place for everyone in the state. This means that we need to stay indoors with the exception of going to work (if you fit in an essential job category,) the grocery story, pharmacies, banks, doctor appointments or exercise.In addition to the order to stay inside, we have also been told to not have any gathering with more than 10 people as well as to practice social distancing which is to stay six feet apart from each other when out in public places.

     I'm attempting to stay stress-free by continuing my daily routine of getting up early and exercising daily as well as reading my daily bible devotional. Although I've kept a journal since I was in elementary school through middle school, high school and college, as of late, I have not been writing as often as I used to. Given the current state of the world, I feel it's vital to keep a record of how the world handles this global pandemic. I also plan to relieve stress by reading books for my two reading challenges, binge watching funny movies and Tv shows as well as play three new Kinect video games I recently purchased which are Disney: Fantasia Evolved, Minute to Win It, and Puss in Boots.

     In reference to my running events, all of these (Las Vegas Women's Half Marathon, Havasu Half Marathon, and Star Wars Half Marathon) have been cancelled. While I'm sad that the races have been cancelled, in most cases, the races have been rescheduled or my race fees have been refunded. At this point, I'd much rather be healthy than put myself in danger for a medal.Once the world returns to some sort of normal and it is safe to travel, I'll run again.

     My main goals right now is to stay safe and sane during this crisis and keep stress levels low. I'm also going to make it a goal to blog everyday during this lockdown as a way to record my mindset during this pandemic as a form of therapy as well as for stress relief. Stay safe & well!