Connection in Crisis

There’s a thing that I do at the end of each year.

I choose a word for the next year to focus on. In the past, this word has been “Breathe” or “Nurture” or something along those lines. This is a word that I journal on and think about. That I come back to again and again. A word that I work to incorporate into my life.

2020

For 2020, the word I chose, was Connect.

A bit Ironic, isn’t it?

I knew at the beginning of the year that I would be giving birth and bringing my baby home sometime around the end of February or early March. That I would have my hands full with a tween, a toddler, and a newborn. But I wanted to focus on connection. I wanted this year to be the year that I made an effort to reach out to people.  Open up a bit more. Had friends over. Play dates. Made an effort to meet some neighbors. Connect.

At the beginning of the year, covid-19 was barely a blip on my radar. I never imagined that it would have such a huge impact on the world. The economy. Our lives.  Everything.

Now, at the end of March, it is everywhere. In the news. Social media. In all of our minds.

This is a scary time. Stressful.  In order to keep our families safe–our neighbors, friends, loved ones–we have distanced ourselves. Inched back. Stepped away.

Now we, as humans, stay at home as much as we can. Watch as shelves empty in stores. As things we used to take for granted become scarce.

Today, we are living in a world where being near each other is risky. Dangerous. We could contract the virus or spread it to others. Get sick. Die.

More and more, across the world–country–state–we are locking down. Businesses  and schools closing. Meetings, classes, concerts, events… cancelled. We are shutting down. Pulling away. Turning inward. Shrinking.

It doesn’t feel like the time to “Connect”

It’s a hard time right now. I find myself telling everyone that life, for me, isn’t that different now than it would have been anyway. Because how much would I really have been getting out of the house with a newborn, anyway? But the truth is, it’s HARD. It’s hard for all of us. We’re struggling through this time using social media to pass ideas to stay busy and be creative. Memes and silly parodies to keep us all from going crazy from the stress of the unknown and uncertainty.

I’ve done my best to turn away from obsessively scouring the news.  It doesn’t help. Anxiety skyrockets as the numbers keep climbing. There are no answers out there. No one knows exactly how long this will last. How many will suffer, how many we’ll lose, or how long we will need to stay in isolation. We don’t know the impact this will really have on the economy or how long will it take to recover.

Nobody has the answers

The future is full of what ifs that swirl around us. What if we, as a people, would have reacted sooner? If we would have handled this differently? If the media and those in charge had been clear and truthful from the beginning? What if more people would have taken this seriously from the start?

And we are all trying to distract ourselves. Smile. Keep busy. Find little ways to make this better.The truth is, it is HARD. And it’s going to be hard for a long time. It isn’t going to just get better overnight.

But more and more, classes are going virtual. We are calling each other more. Using FaceTime. Video Calls. Online classes. Zoom. We are finding ways to stay together . . . while still being apart.

We can still reach out. Call each other. Laugh. Breathe. The best we can, for now, until we make it through. But we can make it through. We will make it through. Together.

And some day . . . we’ll be able to stop being apart. Until then, we can still find creative ways to connect.

On that note, I would like to introduce you to someone: Cole Grayson Dazzo, born on March 2nd 2020.

My third baby’s birth was not what I expected. Driving to another town in the middle of the night during a snow squall . . . 15 hours of labor on 2 hours of sleep. An unmedicated natural birth . . . but that is a story for another day.

Remember, this too shall pass.  Breathe. Look for the positive. Turn off the news. Get some fresh air.

And don’t forget to call a friend.