Coping during the Coronavirus outbreak

[Sophie_M]

We recognise that many of us here in the community are feeling scared, worried and overwhelmed about Coronavirus (COVID19). 

As a result, we created this thread to allow people to come together here during those difficult times and encouraged those wanting to share or seek support to do so here in this space. 
 
It was important with this thread that we maintained perspective and supported each other as best as we could, medical, scientific and public health experts around the world have and still are working hard to contain the virus and treat those affected. 
 
The Beyond Blue Support Service is available via phone 24/7 on 1300 22 4636 or via beyondblue.org.au/get-support for online chat. 
 
There are some other helpful discussions taking place here within our forum community that you may find helpful to read or participate in: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/hi-there-i-only-just-joined-and... 

This thread is now closed for further posting. Users are still able to read through and find support through already existing posts.  

[Moonstruck]

Skyline Pigeon..at last. I have been thinking almost right from the beginning of this thing...that I am alone with my attitudes and thoughts about it.. I relate so much to your points of view, it's a relief because I have found very few, even here on Forum who are in the "same place" as I am. No, we are certainly not"all in this together" not by a long long way. What is this "new normal" we "have" to get used to? Is this it? Is this as good as it gets?

No, we can't give a timeline on when restrictions will be lifted further....we are constantly told by our State Leader who delights in playing "Nanny" even as she expresses with a huge smile, her delight in our low..ie.nil new cases recorded day after day..... "what if we get a second wave"? Well, what if? What if, what if, what if??

Living our lives by "what ifs" is no life at all....for me. Losing my freedom and my choices is unforgivable.

[AngryOne]

I have been through a lot in my life including losing my husband to cancer 3 years ago and my dad to the same cancer 23 years ago. My husband aspirated during a medical procedure on 25 March and was put on a ventilator. He lived on for 51 days and those were the most difficult days of my life until now. I thought that I was really resilient and could survive anything, but I am questioning my sanity now. Being locked up by the government from late March until potentially 11 May (although I am not counting on this given that I am in Victoria) is making me relive every single one of those days in the most horrifying way. I feel the same sense of helplessness that I felt then, the same misery and the same loss of hope. Like you, the virus does not scare me but what the Victorian government is doing is making me lose hope and faith in the future. Like you I am also getting increasingly angry with our loss of freedom and the lack of common sense. As of today, there are 53 active cases including 16 people in hospitals. Yet we are locking up millions of people, preventing them from seeing families and friends, destroying businesses and jobs, throwing people out of work, and taking away any joy that they may have (from sitting in a park reading a book, going for drive, fishing or golfing etc). The fact that the government won't even consider bringing the easing of restrictions forward by 24 hours to let people celebrate Mother's day shows me just exactly how uninterested they are in people's mental health, happiness and well-being. This scares me more than anything else and for the first time in my life, I am truly depressed. A life without freedom and quality is not a life, and the fact that there are so many people out there embracing it tells me that the future is not something that I can look forward to. I am over it too.

[Elizabeth CP]

I think there is a middle road. Unfortunately there is so much emphasis on frightening everyone into following the lockdown and not enough into explaining how they plan to minimise the effects of the lockdown other than economics. I try to cope by reminding myself how much better off than we are than in other countries such as the UK which left their lockdown too late & will now be stuck for possibly a year or more with severe restrictions because their are too many cases to deal with. People are dying because they are leaving it too late to have treatment. I have children living there and hearing what they are going through horrifies me.

While I'm glad we locked down early enough to control the virus here I think we need effective leadership to move foreward because for some of us the restrictions are far worse than the disease. My husband has a degenerative condition and we had been trying to do as much as possible before it is too late. Now he can't see our grandkids, we can't go out for bushwalks or other outings and the longer he goes without them the harder it will be to resume these activities, He is blind & has communication difficulties due to his condition so he finds it hard to talk on the phone and video calls are useless. I don't get a break from being his carer now.

[quirkywords]

Welcome AngryOne, to the forum, and for making your pirst post on this thread.

I can understand you have been through a lot and are feeling angry.

This is the place to express your thoughts freely as it is a nonjudgmental supportive place. Skyline and Moonstruck have similar feelings.

We are lucky to live in a society where people can disagree with others and have a chance to talk about their emotions.

Thanks AngryOne your post is a most welcome addition to the discussion.

[Sophie_M]

Hi AngryOne,

Welcome to the forums, we are so grateful that you have been so brave in opening up and sharing your journey with us. We're also really sorry to hear of how difficult things are for you right now. But please know that you've come to a safe space to talk about these feelings, and our wonderful community is here to help you through this.
If you feel up to it, we'd also recommend reaching out to our Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service. The website will be regularly updated with information, advice and strategies to help you manage your wellbeing and mental health during this time. You can also call our dedicated support line, staffed by mental health professionals, which is available 24/7 at the Beyond Blue Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service on 1800 512 348.



 

[Hanna3]

I usually avoid coming on here but while I understand people's frustrations, we are heading into winter and may face a second and third wave of this virus - in the Spanish Flu earlier this century the second and third waves were much more virulent than the first. This virus is highly contagious and can get out of control very fast - watch what is happening overseas. Our government is rightly concerned about loss of life and our health care system being overloaded and they are being cautious. I don't enjoy this either, but I don't want to see what is happening in places like New York and the UK and Spain and Italy happening here.

As this is a new virus the experts still don't understand a lot about it - such as how it behaves in winter months. It's incredibly complicated and very difficult for governments to work out what to do. I think we need to try to be understanding and patient. I know it's difficult.

[NinedyNine]

Hi there,

I have just registered this evening and decided to post a response to Coping during the Coronavirus Pandemic , which I am falling behind on in a big way.

I have found people are quick to suggest ways to fill in your time, like you can't come up with anything yourself, but my battle at the moment is something else.

In the early days, I was prepared and calm and felt in my wisdom I had a lot of caring ideas to offer others about a strong return to normal society sometime Spring. But several things have happened to throw me off balance and trigger off my old feelings of unsafe, unprotected, neglected me.

I first had a Health issue, not too serious, but I was not well while the first one or two people in my location were diagnosed. As an essential worker though, I did return to work as it was Fibroids, and non contagious. However, accidents happen and I ended up in range of a cough. I felt it, as they stood above me and coughed without covering their mouth. When I told my boss, the response was no response, just to say "he isn't showing any symptoms" and that was it.

It felt very strange. Anyhow, long story short, within a week, after illness and an incident, my hours were cut. Then they were non existent.

I have no means of covering my Rent, Bill's etc and now can't drive. I can't afford Rego.

I have fallen into a heap. I can't deal. I needed notice.

I just, live alone, and it feels like I was the easy option.

Nite

[Sophie_M]

Hi NinedyNine,

We're so grateful that you have reached out to our community, we know that it is not an easy thing to do and you have shown a lot of strength in sharing your story. We're also really sorry to hear how you have been affected during this difficult time. But please know that you've come to a non-judgemental space to talk about your thoughts and feelings, and our wonderful community is here to provide you with as much support, advice and conversation as you need.

We'd also recommend reaching out to our Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service. The website is regularly updated with information, advice and strategies to help you manage your wellbeing and mental health during this time. You can also call our dedicated support line, staffed by mental health professionals, which is available 24/7 to help anyone feeling impacted by this pandemic on 1800 512 348.

[geoff]

Hello Everyone, slowly we will be allowed to get on with our life, but it will be different to how it was beforehand, but to those who are still suffering from depression of any type, unfortunately, the feeling of becoming better can be related to how we are now allowed to go and play golf and do what we love to do.

That's how overcoming depression feels like, it's an enormous weight off our shoulders and gives us freedom but in a different way than it was before.

Take care.

Geoff.

[Skyline_Pigeon]

Yes, I agree losing our freedom and choices is unforgivable, but unfortunately too many people are willing to simply do as they are told without question - just because it is a Government decree. The media then play a huge part in "getting on side" of whichever publicity campaign the government wants to exploit... and so few or no opposing arguments are heard, and those that are, are either directly discredited, or presented in such a way that they just can not be seen to be credible.

To be fair, I think our government was caught between a rock and a hard place when this COVID thing went down. They would have been damned if they did and damned if they didn't, and it made sense to them to simply and quickly follow the popular advice. The problem is, that we now have much better information which points to other potential paths that could be much less intrusive on all of us. HOWEVER how would they look if they admitted that many of the measures they imposed were and are quite unnecessary?

Mark my words, they will ease restrictions and there will be a second wave. This is unavoidable because we have built up no herd immunity. They will then say, "see, I told you so".

The problem is, then what happens? I doubt that they will lock us up again. Instead I believe they will compel us to abide by a new set of onerous rules, yet to be introduced, which will be deemed and promoted as justified. Many of our freedoms and much of our privacy will be forever restricted, including the introduction of a compulsory individual tracing app or microchip.

THESE are the things I fear... not the virus.