What I really need is for people to not send their kids to school when they have symptoms of illness, even the sniffles, so that schools don’t close down again where we live, because that’s one of the only things keeping me sane right now.
If people were more careful, and took responsibility for how their actions affect others, more businesses could open, and we could actually get back to a fraction of normalcy economically and socially.
If you don’t want to wear a mask for any other reason besides it being a medical necessity to go without, then you need to look yourself in the mirror and see that the only person benefiting from that decision is YOU.
And you know what? Just own that.
But DO NOT say you’re doing it to help mentally ill people, or freedom, or some other nonsense. Because what looks like freedom to you is actually becoming a prison for me.
I am making the choice to go places, safely, for my mental health. That is my choice and I own it. I know the risks. I weigh them carefully everyday. It’s never been so difficult for me as it is now to go places, and yet I’ve never needed to go places more than I do now. And unfortunately it feels like a lose-lose decision most of the time.
I wish we could come together to work on both mental health and eradicating Covid-19. I am concerned about suicide rates. I fear more and more people, including myself, getting to that awful place if things continue to get worse as more people die, ICUs fill up, healthcare workers are exhausted beyond burnout and becoming ill themselves, leaving us in a worse position than before.
This situation is only going to become more deadly if we continue to act as if everything is fine and we can’t get sick. Or that nothing bad will happen if you get sick. That may not be the case for the person pushing the cart next to you at the grocery store. It’s not just old people dying, y’all (and when did old people become disposable, anyway?).
The bottom line: if you care about mental health, you need to care about Coronavirus.
