Quarantine Life On Hold Heading Back to Work

    On Friday evening, my boss called me and asked my to meet with her and my colleagues on Saturday regarding reopening the library to staff. During the meeting with my boss, she said that the library shouldn't sit and so nothing during this crisis. To that end, she directed me and my colleagues to be back at work starting on Monday. Although we will still be closed tentatively until Monday, April 13, we will be open to staff starting Monday.After the meeting on Saturday, I had to call the two employees I supervise and inform them that they are expected to be at work Monday morning.

     At this point, according to our county health department website, there have been 88 samples collected, 77 negative tests received, 10 people are being monitored, and 2 confirmed cases.Since the reality of things is that I'm going back to work, I'm praying daily that no one at my job is sick and asymptomatic and that when I get COVID-19, it will be mild and I'll recover.

     On the exercise front, I'm been really enjoying virtual runs on YouTube. Since the half marathon I was planning to do today has been postponed, I decided to complete a virtual half marathon at home and below is a photo from the race route. Since there's not a large place for me to run, this is a nice alternative.

          In other news, I've been making some headway in reference to completing the two books challenges I'm doing for the year. This is the latest book that I've read for the 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge which is a wonderful read since it focuses on black women, the importance of seeing yourself reflected in books and the desire to create your own story when you don't see it represented in literature. I enjoyed this book so much, I'm planning to buy my own personal copy and plan to use this to create my own reading challenge for next year. I plan to create two new blog pages with the two 2020 reading challenge I'm currently doing so this can help others discover new books to read.

       

      Lastly, I had a nice convo with my mom today and was happy to hear her voice on the phone. It's comforting to know that even though I'm living on the other side of the country, my mom still thinks about me and prays for me, hubby and his family. Our conversation was good and mom said that she's using this current time as an opportunity to strengthen her relationship with God. I couldn't agree with her more and am also using this time to look back at the past by reading my old journals as well as reorganize home and throw old junk away. During this crisis, it's important to focus on today and not try to look too far into the future since it's uncertain. Stay safe & well!

Update during COVID-19 California Lockdown

     I have decided to no attempt to update my blog everyday but to instead provide updates as I get new information. Since COVID-19 has gotten more widespread, I've been checking our local county health department website for updates on how many samples have been collected, negative test received, how many people are being monitored and have many cases have been confirmed. Up until yesterday, our county and one other county (Mariposa County) has had no confirmed cases. Unfortunately, as of today, our county how has two confirmed case of COVID-19. According to the local ABC news website, one patient is a Kings County resident and is quarantining at how and the second patient is a non-resident but they're being treated in Kings County. Me and hubby were not really surprised by this news in that given the global reach of COVID-19, it's not a matter of if your county gets it but when it will get it.


     In reference to work, my boss has requested than me and co-workers send her a weekly write up of any work from home things we do (regular duties as well as covid related duties.) Luckily, I have been writing down everything I've been doing so this will definitely make writing the report easier. I am still scheduling social media posts for our seven Facebook accounts and one Twitter account. To create a better work/life balance, I have decided to do work during the usual hours when I would be at work during the week.In addition, I am still sticking to eating at my normal work lunchtime as well as taking a walk break everyday.

     Life wise, I have been doing well by keeping up a daily routine by exercising daily, writing in my journal then reading a daily bible devotional before starting my workday. Working out everyday has been a surprising godsend and have been extremely helpful with stress relief. While being quarantined at home, my and hubby have been taking daily walks to a nearby park or around the neighborhood. I have also discovered and rediscovered my love of YouTube exercise workouts. Below are three of my favorite Youtube workouts I have done lately from Jessica Smith TV, City Walks virtual walks and Phala B Fitness. Stay safe & well!

Day 5 of COVID-19 California Lockdown

     Yesterday was day 5 of statewide self isolation and me working from home. Started the day with doing a workout followed by getting a phone call from my dad calling in Alabama to check on me and hubby. It was nice to hear from him and how he's holding up given the current circumstances. He talked about how much he misses sports and he's annoyed cause he can't walk his dog due to rain.He's planning to have a family reunion in Texas in June and after talking to him yesterday, it seems as though he's still planning to make that happen.

     In reference to working at home, since I work as digital services librarian, I'm still working and my boss is keeping me busy by sending me things to post to our social media accounts in addition to posts I've already pre-scheduled.I'm working hard to balance working from home and not feeling stressed by all things my boss wants from me. Being candid, The stress from working at home has led me to revert back to stress eating as a coping mechanism. Although I have still been following a daily fasting schedule (14 hours fasting and 10 hours eating,) today I am recommitting myself to taking each day as it comes, taking breaks during the day and remembering that I can only do one thing at a time to the best of my ability. 

     Initially I was planning to write a blog post each day but since I haven't figured out the best time to do write posts or I feel like I'm not sharing anything new, I'm seriously considering reducing blog posts to once a week which doing the time that I'm quarantined but we shall see. Stay safe & well! 

Day 4 of COVID-19 California Lockdown

     Today, starts my first full week of state imposed quarantine and I am working towards maintaining a regular daily routine as well as creating a work from home schedule similar to my regular work schedule. I started my daily by doing execrise and since it was raining outside this morning, I decided to do a strength training video from the HasFit YouTube channel.

     After doing my workout, I have took a shower and got dressed for the day. I have decided the best way to establish a regular work at home routine with simple steps such as moving my laptop from my couch to the kitchen table as a way to change my mindset. In addition, I am also having my hubby help with establishing a regular work from home routine by having him make lunch at the normal time when I would have lunch. I think by making this two changes, this will assist with changing my mindset when it comes to working at home as well as provide some sort of normalcy in this abnormal times. Stay safe & well!

 

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!