Here’s something I never thought I would be writing about! I have a lovely post I’ve been working on for you guys about Nice, France, but it just feels inappropriate to suggest places to travel to right now. When I sat down to post it today, it just felt wrong and I decided instead to talk about travel at the moment.
I find it really fascinating to read about old pandemics/diseases that most of us can’t imagine getting anymore. Specifically, I’ve been reading a lot about the Influenza pandemic of 1918 (also known as Spanish flu). Another one of my interests is anthropology and I’m a member of a really interesting facebook group with people in the anthropology field. Someone posted a great article this morning, discussing how social distancing is the answer to stopping the spread of coronavirus.
As someone who has great anxiety over getting sick (more related to stomach issues) and has developed actual OCD to avoid getting sick, I’m oddly enough not afraid of getting the coronavirus. I think at some point, we will all get it, it will become similar to the common cold, or flu. I think the scary thing for me is because it’s so new and unfamiliar, people are panicking. Which obviously doesn’t help my panic disorder.
This is probably the most American thing I’m going to write-but I don’t understand the mask surge. Every article I’ve read says wearing a mask won’t prevent anything from coming in, and you should only wear one if you’re sick to prevent the spread of your germs to others. Also, if one is wearing a mask, they are more likely to touch their face and adjust the mask, creating a risk for more germs to get in. Walking through NYC, I saw a woman wearing not one, but TWO masks in different shapes on top of each other. I don’t understand, are people not reading the news? Or not believing what they’re reading?
I am thinking about all the (selfish) ways coronavirus is affecting me at the moment. Dave’s parents are supposed to come in April, we’re supposed to go to a wedding in June in Seattle, my parents have a trip to New Orleans planned, even my brother is in Florida right now. Because the world has become so global (definitely more so than in 1918 at least) it’s hard not to think about the ways we will be impacted globally.
On a smaller scale, I’m worried I won’t be able to get cat food for Ellie, go see my parents 35 minutes away, and little stuff like that. I guess it’s all just scary because it’s so unknown. There seems to be no answer right now as to how long this will last. It’s frustrating to have no control over, and be so uncertain about the future.
All of the conflicting information available is quite distressing too. I saw someone commented on an article the other day on facebook, clearly in distress, over how do we even know what’s fact and what’s fiction these days.
I’m reading a series right now called the Thousandth floor. I’m on the last book of the series, and highly recommend it. It’s set in NYC in 2118 and technology has developed to incredible heights. It makes me think a lot about how people thought the future (like 2020) would be. It also makes me sad as a society, I feel like we’re at a low point. At least in NYC, they have prisoners making hand sanitizer, they can’t close schools because there’s almost 200,000 homeless children. I hope that this is absolute rock bottom and things in the future are better. It feels like sometimes we are going to destroy ourselves as a society.
I’m not sure what I wanted to write when I sat down to write this, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and let anyone reading this know that their fears aren’t silly and I would be more than happy to talk to anyone about their thoughts etc. individually. You can always reach out to me via email at jmendelson@firststopheathrow.com or my instagram is public as well.
We’re going to make it through this, and travel more than ever. Life’s too short and I’ve got too many places to see. Wash your hands.
xx
j
jordanabroadadventures.wordpress.com 