“It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine”
Just like with any other crisis in life, we are dealing with this pandemic in our own special way. I’ll have to admit, I wasn’t doing a very good job of it early on. Well, at first, I actually was having some fun with it. I thought it was a bunch of hooey, and I told everyone I wasn’t going to do anything differently, I was going to go on with life just like I always did. I then had my “oh shit” moment the one night about 3 am when I decided to look at my phone and saw that the NBA postponed their season. I then realized that all other sports would follow suit, and this was serious. For sports to pass up millions upon millions of dollars, this had to be serious. We had a rough road ahead of us.
As many of you are aware, I do suffer from depression, and it can be something much less than a pandemic that sets me off, like a Publix commercial, so to say that this sent me downward would be an understatement. I started worrying about, well, everything. The pandemic, combined with the huge drop in oil prices, would be devastating for our economy. Needless to say, many people are and will die from this, which is even more devastating. My mind was, as in many cases, my own worst enemy.
On a personal level, this past week has hit a pretty deep low, we’ve had several setbacks that are not monumental in the grand scheme of things, but when you pile them all together, can register as a pretty shitty week on the scales. In no certain order:
• Our son Patrick and his fiancée Rachel were going to be married on April 25, and of course, unfortunately, the wedding had to be postponed. While we were sad for Patrick, we really were upset for Rachel and for her parents. To a great extent, a wedding is for the bride, and also to a great extent, the parents of the bride. They had gone through a lot of planning and preparation, and now, they had to regroup and plan for another date.
• We’ve been busily keeping in close contact with our daughter Kelly, she works for IHG (Holiday Inn), and as you can suspect, her job is probably in a certain level of jeopardy. The hotel industry is in a very difficult position, people aren’t traveling right now, and who knows when they will start traveling again.
• I had been diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease a few months ago, which I chose not to believe, so I got a second opinion. This week, I found out … I have Crohn’s Disease. While this isn’t anything life-threatening, it does provide a certain level of discomfort and joint pain that I’m really not used to. OK, I know, I’m almost 60 years old, I can’t or shouldn’t complain, but this wasn’t a fun revelation.
• Laurel and I had a few “moments” this week where we probably weren’t as kind to each other as we should be. With all of the stress going on, it’s probably understandable, and we’ve been married over 37 years, so we will of course be OK, but I know she hurt my feelings, and I’m sure I hurt her feelings. We didn’t have a good week together.
Normally, I can at least gain comfort from some of the sanctuaries that I frequent, but to no one’s surprise, they are all closed. Our church is closed until May 11 at a minimum. Our yoga studio is closed for the foreseeable future. The local brewery that we go to is closed. While I am an introvert, I really need personal interaction, and with the social distancing we have to do, I can’t get that either. I have to say, I was starting to go bat shit crazy.
As I was reaching new lows toward the end of the week, I think it was MK Rodgers who reminded me of what one of my heroes, Mr. Rogers, used to say, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping”. And I did, I found a great deal of people who were helping. I always hate to individually point people out because I will of course miss some people, but I found so many people willing to help and doing everything they could to help. Just a few examples:
• Our church, Shallowford Presbyterian Church, has implemented various online options, Bible studies, classes, services, music, etc. The greatest benefit is that I’ve been able to share these with my Mom, and she’s been able to watch them from her home in North Carolina. The only downside is when she’s watched one that I haven’t, and I have to admit I haven’t seen it yet.
• Several yoga studios are providing online classes for free, so that we can continue to practice yoga even if we can’t get to the studio. While it’s not the same, it’s great to still be able to practice, even if it’s in our home. The only issue is when Daisy and Little Bit come up and lick our faces when we are in Down Dog, but we’ll have to deal with that.
• Alyssa Firestone, my colleague Drew’s wife, reached out to me and spent at least 45 minutes on the phone with me talking through Crohn’s Disease, the issues, problems, vitamins, probiotics, diet, things to watch out for, etc. She has dealt with this disease for many, many years and at a much higher level than me, so I’m embarrassed to even say I have it. But she spent so much time, and so patiently talked through what this could mean for me.
• Out of the blue, I got an e-mail from Chuck Achuff from church, just asking me how I was doing with everything going on. He said that this was probably difficult for business, and asked how I was holding up.
• As we all navigate a brave new world of COVID-19, I have to say that our support system at WIKA has been incredible. I’m always impressed with our Human Resources team at WIKA, but Cathy Bochenek is one of the most impressive people I’ve ever worked with. She deals with Health and Safety, and she has been ahead of the game the entire time. She has been her consistently amazing self.
• On top of that, our IT support team has been called to do a great deal of work to allow our personnel to work from home. Justin Williams and his team are always ready, responsive and calmly do whatever is needed to ensure our personnel get what they need. They have consistently gone above and beyond.
• As I mentioned earlier, MK Rodgers has been so much of what I needed on Facebook, she is real, she is honest, she says what we are all thinking and feeling. I really needed that.
• On the other hand, Jimmy Shafe has consistently been the light that I may not always want, but I need.
• Brad Bryant and Bradley Kibler from church consistently are Brad and Bradley. As we are trying to navigate how to do Sunday school classes and confirmation classes remote, Brad and Bradley are forces of positivity and persistence to ensure, we will make this work.
So yes, I started focusing on the helpers, and I started feeling much better. As I rounded out the week, and I was on my morning run, the song “Glory in the Highest” started playing, and I felt so much better. I started singing praise as I ran,
“Glory glory Hallelujah,
Glory, glory to you, Lord,
Glory, glory Hallelujah,
Hallelujah”
And then I remembered my mantra, whenever my brain and the demons inside of my brain try to drag me down, and I shouted out,
“I am baptized! So fuck off!”
So many times, when we are dealing with difficulties in life, it’s easy to focus on those who are failing us, whether it’s our politicians, the media, each other, whoever it is, we can see who is letting us down. But there are so many out there that are going above and beyond, in their own special way. It may be something as simple as a kind word or a kind gesture. That can make all the difference.
Is this the end of the world as we know it? Who knows? But what if it is? Admittedly never the optimist, I’m pretty confident, we’re going to be fine. There are enough of you out there that will bring light to the darkness, and no matter what we face, we’ll get through it. Keep up the great work you all do. There are many of us who appreciate it.
