If a picture of a Mickey Pretzel doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will… I am going to step outside of my normal perimeters right now. This morning, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. Then I went onto my personal Facebook account. I saw people fighting or being nasty. There were a lot of negative comments because people were not reacting the “right” way to the Coronavirus crisis.
This honestly made me sad. There is not a person on this planet who is not being affected in one way or another. We all are giving things up, and we are all hurting. Telling someone that they need to deal differently isn’t fair.
Different people handle stress in different ways. That’s why there are so many memes about the virus out there right now. Humor, including humor that is a bit dark, can be a wonderful coping mechanism. It does not mean that someone isn’t taking the situation seriously, it’s just a way to take a short break from the insanity.
There is also nothing wrong with dreaming of your next Disney vacation, or whatever you might be dreaming about. “People are dying” is not a proper response when someone talks about looking forward to something. There is nothing wrong with planning your next vacation. We all look forward to the day when this is just a bad memory.
Don’t ever minimize your own feelings. There will always be someone who has it worse, but that doesn’t make your situation any less real. You are allowed to feel sad because a trip was canceled, or to be worried about finding toilet paper. Don’t ever let anyone make you think that your feelings aren’t justified.
One last thing; be kind. Even though we are experiencing tough times like never before, we can still show human decency. Don’t fight with people on Facebook, just ignore their negative comments. Thank the cashier at the store, or the restaurant owner with your takeout order. We can come out of this stronger than ever before, but we all need to show human decency in order to do it. After all, we are all in this together.