I’m a hugger. If you’re comfortable, I will give you a hug and a kiss on both cheeks when I see you, ask how you and the family are doing, and tell you how good it is to see you again. But right now, many of us can’t hug. COVID19 has turned our world upside down in the space of a fortnight. It’s not ‘halfway across the world so we don’t have to worry about it’ anymore. It’s here, it’s now and I don’t think many of us, while realising it’s bad, realise just how bad it might get if things aren’t done properly.

I’m currently, like most, staying indoors with my guy and his family, with the only exception of leaving to get things from the shops (most of online delivery slots are booked up and aiming for the smaller shops around the area) or going on a walk around the area for some fresh air. It’s quiet around here, so you can go for walk while still keeping far away from people. If I see the odd person here or there on my walk, I’ll cross the road. So I don’t have to come into any close contact with people, nor do I have to touch anything. Nevertheless, I still wash my hands when I get inside.

Anyway, back to hugging. I am cuddle bug. I can’t get enough of them. I love a good cuddle and snuggle. The thought of not being able to give my boyfriend a hug, or worse God forbid he gets sick with this virus, is at the forefront of my worries. I also worry about my parents, grandparents and my sister. We are a family of huggers and we’re a tight-knit bunch. I talk to my folks almost every day on the phone. At present, both my parents and my grandparents are being encouraged to stay indoors, due to age, health conditions or both.

The one thing I want to do, besides hoping they don’t get this virus, is to give them a hug. But in doing so, that could put them at risk of it. It breaks my heart that I can’t do the one thing my instincts tell me to do: hug and reassure them. Thankfully I can still give my boyfriend a hug when he comes home from work, but we’ve agreed to only do that after he’s had a shower and is thoroughly clean from the day, just in case. I know if any doctors are reading this, they might be rolling their eyes right now at that statement, but it’s the best we can do.

Yeah I joke around and throw some humour at a terrible situation at times, but that’s because that’s one of my ways of coping with it, not out of insensitivity. Deep down, I’m very scared. I get anxious, sometimes depressed. This last week I practically had a full panic meltdown of anxiety, depression and despair I hadn’t seen since I had my breakdown two years ago, but I’m since feeling better and trying to manage any residual freaking out the best I can.

If there’s one thing this outbreak has shown, it’s that we take far too many things for granted. Certain things I worried about before are considered trivial now. The things I considered superficial and trivial now just make me angry. I don’t give a shit about the latest eyeshadow palette or trend. In these current circumstances, one thing that makes me angry, as you’ll already know if you follow me on Twitter, is what’s been going on with the panic buying and abuse of shop workers.

I understand people are scared. But how people can stock things they don’t need, leaving the elderly and emergency workers like doctors, paramedics, etc. with nothing to get, and verbally and physically abusing shop staff, and still call themselves good people, is beyond me.

When this is over, and hopefully we’ll have all got through it in one piece, the first thing I’m going to do, is give the ones I love around me, who I’ve not been able to be around, the biggest hug I can possibly muster. Friends, family, the cat, everyone. And you guys of course!

But in the mean time, it’ll have to be cyber hugs. So group hug, everyone. Let’s support each other to get through this together. Xx

*Understandably, we’re all in very different financial positions due to the COVID19 outbreak, myself included. Alternatively, if you like what I do and still would like to support me and my blog, please consider buying me a coffee here. Your support and readership means the entire world and you lot have been helping keeping me sane recently, so thank you xx