It was a challenge this week to find these words because we, too, are struggling.
Each one of us in this newsroom took a hit this week, and it's hard to move forward when it feels like you'll never get ahead. You'll forever be stuck in some Groundhog Day loop of reliving the same day again and again. Wake up, worry, work, maybe eat something, worry and sleep.
It is hard to find hope when always at the back of your mind anxiety lurks, trying to pull you into despair. Anxiety over if you'll still have a job tomorrow. Anxiety that you'll get sick or you'll pass the virus to someone who can't fight it. Anxiety that this isolation will drag on. Anxiety that all those deferred payments will eventually come due and you may never financially recover.
According to a survey conducted by Abacus Data between March 20 and March 24, 75 per cent of Canadians report feeling this anxiety – 37 per cent feel lonely and 32 per cent indicate they are having a hard time sleeping due to the pandemic. Many have considered turning off the news, according to Abacus, “because of how it makes them feel.”
However, it is at these times that the simplest acts of kindness mean the most. The neighbour who you've only spoken to a handful of times offering to pick up your groceries. The child that tapes a hand-drawn rainbow to their window and patiently waits to wave at those who pass by. The husband/wife who checks in to let their partner, who is at home with the kids while trying to work and feeling completely overwhelmed, know they are not alone.
There is no crystal ball that will tell us what comes next, but finding that glimmer of goodness in each day makes getting out of bed a touch easier. And we keep going.
