It’s been 31 days since I started quarantining myself in my apartment in Brooklyn due to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Taking a break from my usual vlogs to talk about it a bit.
COVID-19:
Get the latest information from the CDC about COVID-19
Daily Beast Article:
If You Have Anxiety and Depression but Feel Better During Coronavirus, You’re Not Alone
Video Transcript:
Hey, it’s Mikey Dunn. So, lately I’ve been posting my vacation vlogs from last year, but I wanted to take a moment to talk about the situation that we’re all in right now. So… here we are, it’s officially Day 31 for me of practicing social distancing and staying inside as much as possible. It’s been about a month and we still don’t know how long social distancing is going to be in effect for New York City.
And, how my timeline breaks down is that I started working from home for two days. And then the following Monday, my agency mandated it for all employees. So, by the time New York City went into PAUSE, it was already day 11 for me. So, I’ve just been here in my Brooklyn apartment. I kept wavering between whether I should post a vlog about this or not, but I ultimately decided I should. So when this is all over, I can watch this video and see what it was like. So, I’m gonna post this vlog now, a month in. And then my next and last vlog about COVID will just be the day we’re able to go outside and things turn back to normal.
Here in our neighborhood our street has definitely gotten quieter besides the occasional siren. I can’t tell if the amount of sirens has increased or if it’s the same. Now the CDC advises that everyone has to wear masks when they go outside. So, when I take a walk outside every few days, it feels like you’re in a movie. It’s really surreal to see nearly everyone wearing masks too.
I used Instacart once, I tipped my shopper a ton. Another time, I needed lettuce and milk because those things – I just go through those so quickly. So, I went to the grocery store a few blocks away, and everyone was in masks, everyone was trying to keep their distance… People would literally see you in the aisles and they would turn around because they don’t want to pass you. And in the checkout on the floor, there’s lines of tape so that way, people keep six feet apart from each other. And then when you finally get up to the cashier, there is this plexiglass panel, so it serves as a divide between you and the cashier.
So a lot of people have been taking time to reflect on their lives before COVID-19 and I’m practicing gratitude even more nowadays. I’m still very grateful to have a job and to just have the option to work from home. I’m really grateful to have roommates to talk to and all the food that I have stocked and I’m doing okay. And knock on wood so far no one in my closest circle of friends or family has gotten sick from this.
The first week of social isolation was tough. It was a big shift for me to adjust from working in an office to now working from home, and not being able to go outside so freely and just like going to the grocery stores is like something you didn’t even think about, is like really stressful. But for work, I adjusted to work from home within a week. And I started checking the news less and less.
And right now, things are pretty bad in New York.
And I began to think like, why am I actually calm? It’s like a strange paradox. Like, shouldn’t I feel worse? Normally, I’m always thinking about like, worst case scenarios, and I’m worrying all the time about like, every little thing, but during this crisis, I’m doing okay. For the past few days, I’ve been doing some thinking and some self reflection, and I’m trying to figure out, why do I feel okay?
The first thing I could think of was, I’m introverted, I’m a homebody, I’m a nerd. So, I feel like I’ve been built for social isolation. I love spending time in my room. I watch anime, I play video games, I read books. And that kind of leads to my next thought that escapism is like my coping mechanism where like, adulting in the real world is already like, so hard. So, anything with escapism just helps me escape the real world. And it’s probably why I love Disney so much. Because it’s like going to a Disney park is the classic example of just escaping reality.
I stumbled on an article in The Daily Beast and it helped me piece together some things. The article is called, “If You Have Anxiety and Depression but Feel Better During Coronavirus, You’re Not Alone.” But it starts off by saying a large part of anxiety is anticipation of the unknown. Well, the bad thing actually happened. So, we’re all experiencing this together.
There are still times where I feel a bit anxious then I think, wow, this is real life right now. I worry about my friends, I worry about my family who’s back in Jersey. And everyday, the news and the headlines just change. And when you read through them, you can easily go down a rabbit hole. But as you’re scrolling through the feed, you realize too that everyone’s seeing the same thing, living on the same planet, experiencing the same feelings of anxiety. So, we’re all worrying about the same things. We’re experiencing this together, and we’re feeling anxious together. So, feeling worried or anxious in this scenario is not just exclusive to me, it’s literally the whole world going through it together. So I think that has kind of dampened my anxiety.
Even though I worry so much about everything, and I have bad anxiety about everything, I am still generally very positive and optimistic as a person. So I’m like, “Okay, things are bad, things are crazy, but in the end, it’s going to eventually be okay.” And the toughest part right now is we still don’t know when this will end. But it will end… eventually.
So, all I got to do is stay inside as much as I can, wash my hands constantly, and keep myself busy, while also taking care of myself. So, those are my thoughts on this whole experience.
My next few videos are going to be more vlogs of my vacation that I took last year now that I’m finally getting around to editing them. I’m thinking about what other videos I can film but my next and last Coronavirus video will be the day social distancing in New York City is lifted. So, that’s gonna be a good day and then we’ll see what happens after.
Just like things went into place after 9/11, I feel like things will go into place after COVID-19.
That’s it for now. Be sure to take care of yourself. Thanks for watching.
