Breaking news:
I was in college at the time, working full time as well. I was scrolling and reading my daily news intake before class. That’s when I saw the headline “New coronavirus found in China”. I paused and pondered on the idea of a pandemic “would this be like the swine flu, maybe like SARS “. After reading some comments I chose to keep this in my radar and to do my best to be updated on the evolving virus in China. This was in November. After watching more and more news sources covering the COVID outbreak, I began to fear the future of what my life would look like during a pandemic. WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic. I was following via articles and videos. The videos were the main cause of concern, people unable to get help, people collapsing. The videos shook me to the core. The specialist at the time said this is new and they needed more time to study the virus. China then Italy had over capacity hospitals. It was our turn, the government closed the country down for two weeks. The anxiety grew, “Is this it, will this be my end of days?”. I drove downtown and did two loops of the highways 401,Gardiner, Dvp,427 . I wish I took footage of the drive. I have never seen the roads empty like that. It was eerie and disturbing to say the least. There was one aspect that I did enjoy: no traffic.
At this point I was still working as an essential worker. I did appreciate how the world stopped via the people who work part time jobs and are unable to get the benefit of paid vacations, mother nature restoring herself within days seeing people start to get more family time. The flip side of that was the long lines, less social interactions, mental health and wellness was not being up kept, business and services closing down, restricting movement , family gatherings were illegal , unable to go to gyms, no live music, feeling paranoid and questioning “ where has this person been in the last 3 days, are they sick?, gotta wash the first layer of skin off my hand to ensure they are clean.” “I gotta make sure I have a clean mask at all times, did I bring sanitizer, O my this store's sanitizer smells horrible.” Luckily the paranoia subsided and I just started to enjoy the videos of people doing at home hobbies from cooking, to trick shots and becoming influencers. It was interesting entertainment. The more I got out there the more I started to become more relaxed and stress free. This year I started a 100 consecutive day outdoor/wild cold immersion therapy during the winter. Where I traversed in cold lakes,rivers and outdoor bodies of water. Learned a lot about myself and how I show up to the world during this challenge. Met amazing people along the way as well.
Now with more research out there, I am more confident in my actions and the way I plan to navigate the world thus far. I am looking forward to how the world will reflect on this global event and where we can improve and evolve for whatever is around the corner.
Hernancris Argueta