When The World Seems Crazy
We have all made jokes about the Coronavirus, but it is of great concern in the community. Schools are closed, businesses are taking heed to President Trump’s recommendation to limit gatherings to no more than 10 now, instead of the original 100 or 50 … TEN!!! This is NOT a time to be out and about socializing. STAY AT HOME as recommended, if at all possible. If you do have to be out, limit the amount of people you come into contact with. Wash your hands! Keep your distance from others, at least 6′ to 10′ away. Cover your coughs and sneezes. If you are experiencing any of the known symptoms of the Coronavirus, have traveled overseas, or have been exposed to someone that has tested positive for the Coronavirus, please EXCLUDE yourself from any gatherings PERIOD. This should be common sense. We can help prevent the spread of this virus if we all take part in this. It will take ALL of us!!!
Now that I have this off my chest, let’s talk about what to do when the world seems crazy.
If you have been watching televison, on social media, or just decided to venture into the store, I’m sure you’ve seen what you consider some craziness going on in your neck of the woods. It is enough to provoke extreme anxiety in us, if we let it. That is the thing right there … it’s key. IF WE LET IT!
It will drive you crazy worrying about this pandemic that is the Coronavirus. A lot of us, myself included, have found some relief in making jokes about it, just as I did just yesterday about the shortage of toilet paper. Hmm, and here I thought this affected your respiratory system, not “the other end.”
What can you do to relieve some stress, anxiety, and worry with all of this virus talk?
First of all, make yourself a priority! Do not push your exercise routine to the back burner. Also, don’t take this time to overeat or eat food you know is bad for you, all for the sake of “emotional eating” or “stress eating.” That is just an excuse. You know that you’re not supposed to overindulge, so choose NOT to! If everything was right in the world, would you abuse your body in this fashion on a good day? If not, then don’t rationalize at this point that it’s “okay” because the world is in such an uproar. Instead, this should be the very time that you make good food choices to keep your immune system up to fight this virus and other illnesses off. Keep in mind also that when you exercise, you are raising your body temperature. This is a good thing when you have illnesses going around. You want to do all you can to ward them off. So, keep making good, healthy food choices and having healthy options available, and keep that appointment with yourself to get in your exercise! Now is not the time to fall off the wagon.
Listen to some good music. Whether you choose to listen to music while you work out, or if you just want to kick back with a beverage of your choice and listen to some good quality music … know that music is good for the soul! Every morning before I get into the shower, I turn on my bluetooth speaker and play some of my favorite tunes. It helps me greet the day with a much better attitude when I do this. It just helps to get some feel-good type of music going in the morning as I greet the day. It doesn’t have to be blasted loudly, why, it could even be soothing music. The point is that music helps us no matter what … it can be a mood enhancer. Use it to your advantage. I do know that certain types of music can bring us down – there are some that just want to have a minute to wallow, so they turn on some sad songs to do so. Now is NOT the time to do that. There is enough depressing things in the world today … turn on something upbeat … and sing your heart out. Again, it is good for your soul!
Pet a dog or cat. Honestly, it has been proven that petting an animal will help lower your stress levels and your blood pressure even. For me, my animals are my fur babies. I love each and every one of them, with their unique personalities and charm. It helps to gather them all on the couch with me in the evenings to just snuggle with them. They have waited all day for me to sit down and allow them to curl up in my lap, and I gladly do this as it helps ME in the process also.
Take time to check in on your relatives. We are so busy going here and there in the world today, but at this time, slow down and check in with your loved ones. You especially want to check on the elderly that may be afraid to venture out with the threat of the virus being more harmful to them. If they are low on food or supplies, be the hands and feet that gather these items so they don’t have to go out in this to put themselves at risk. I know for me, I have even taken supplies and put them on the gate so that we did not even have to come into contact with my parents when one of them was sick in the past. They didn’t want to go out to get the things they needed, and they felt bad when we offered as they didn’t want us to get sick. So this worked for us. This way, we were helping them, and we were limiting our exposure as well. Now, I’m NOT saying that ANYONE in my family has gotten this virus – thank God they have not – I’m speaking of other illnesses in the past, be it the common cold, what they suspected was just sinuses, or the flu.
Last, but certainly not least, PRAY, TRUST, and BELIEVE. God is not going to leave us. He is right there with each and every one of us. Talk to Him. He wants to hear from you, and not just in times of trouble. God loves each and every one of us, and He is on our side. I know there are people that argue “why does God allow things of this nature to occur?” I don’t have the answer and doubt any of us will this side of Heaven. Just know that God will never leave us nor forsake us. Take comfort in that one thing that you know with ALL of your heart. God is faithful to us.
Remember. We are all in this together. If you have supplies and you know your family is lacking, offer them some of yours. Don’t hoard it all for yourself when others are in need, too. My family and I did not go crazy like some we’ve heard about on the news and social media, but we did get to the grocery store to get some supplies that we needed. Shelves were bare in a lot of places, but we were able to get food items, since my daughter’s school closed along with the rest of them. We have some cleaning products, if we need to sanitize our house should someone get it and have to be isolated – which we pray does not happen!! And, yes, we even have some toilet paper.
Be safe, everyone. It is going to get better.
Sometimes it is just better to remain silent…
and smile. This came across my Facebook feed today and it truly hit home with the way I am feeling right now. I am torn between laying out my feelings and just keeping my mouth shut. If I open up and let it all out, I am sure it would cause hurt; maybe even more than what I am feeling now. So here I am writing about this to try to help calm myself so that I don’t say things I may regret later.
Here is he situation. It was my birthday this past Thursday; one of those that is considered a milestone birthday. I was forgotten about by those that I hold dear to my heart, my family. Not a word of out them. This is the second year that this has happened. I will be honest, it hurts, and it makes me feel that they don’t think much of me.
Normally, as I did last year, I would just distance myself from them for a while and I would somewhat get over it and go on with things. However, with everything that is going on with this virus pandemic I feel the need to check on them. I feel like I am being selfish for having these feelings with all that is going on. I have always been the kind of person that just takes any hurt that I am dealt and buries inside. And I will probably do that in this case.
I do know that I will never stoop to their level and act as they have to me. But it is really hard to keep this all bottled up at the moment; but it is probably the best thing to do.
Always try to think before you speak or act. Though it is not always easy doing that being the emotional beings that we are.
For anyone reading this, thanks for listening and letting me vent. It did help writing all this out.
Stay safe and healthy during all that is going on.
Hello Fresh
One of my friends talked about Hello Fresh on their Facebook page not too long ago. She raved about how good it was, and I thought of looking into it at that time but did not. A few weeks later, I received a delivery at work, and there was a Hello Fresh coupon in that package. I kept it on my desk for a few days, then I decided to give them a try.
**Please note: I am NOT getting paid for this review of Hello Fresh. I just wanted to write of my experience!**
When I logged onto the site, I found it user friendly. I knew that as a part of their promotional deal I would have to enter my credit card information. In doing so, I was authorizing them to send meals to me every week of their choice, unless I selected my own meals. After looking at their selections, I began to explore further options to get the meals I knew my family would love. The selection was made, and now I waited in anticipation of the arrival of my package. My day to choose meals was by the end of day on Monday. My shipment information would go in on Tuesday, and my package would go to the carrier on Friday. Then, my package would be delivered by the end of the day on Saturday.
The weekend arrived, and the first package was delivered around noon on Saturday by a smiling Federal Express worker. This was perfect for us to make a meal for supper that night.
We unpacked the contents of the box and found ice packs/dry ice to keep the content cold. The individual meals were placed in brown paper bags like you used to find at the grocery stores. We inspected each bag to make sure all of the ingredients were there, along with the recipe cards. Perfect! All items were there, and we studied the time on each card to decide which to do first. On the weekends, obviously, you’d have more time to cook a longer recipe vs. doing so in the middle of a work and school week.
After we all agreed on a meal for that night, we began the preparations later that afternoon. We all pitched in to make this meal, and it was fun for the whole family. We had to laugh at the person who wrote the recipes, though, as they loved the words “roast” and “drizzle.” We found that you will “roast” the majority of your meals at 425 degrees, and you would need to “drizzle” olive oil on your vegetables.
On a few occasions, we were introduced to new concepts like “mincing” garlic or “zesting” lemons. We have never done either of those before, but now we can say we’re experienced with them both.
~SMILE~
After about 40 minutes, our dinner was ready to be served. We had enough for five plates of food. This was perfect since my niece was coming over later that evening after work, so she got to try Hello Fresh as well as the four members of my immediate family.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our first taste of Hello Fresh! We enjoyed it so much that we looked forward to making the other two meals in our package. Later in the week when we prepared them, we were just as thrilled with the taste as well. We were so pleased that we selected three more meals for the following week.
Since I am trying to watch what I eat, I chose healthier meal options. When they did provide carbs, I either only tasted them, chose a small amount, or decided to forgo that portion of the meal for more vegetables or meat. It was great for even the pickiest eaters!
Hello Fresh gave us free meals to send to our family and friends. I chose my daughter and my friend, Greg, to be the recipient of those free meal vouchers. My daughter excitedly went to their website to begin her process as well, and she was pleased with her experience with them also. The meals were delivered on time, with all ingredients in her bags as well, and she had a great time making each recipe for her and her boyfriend. I’m not sure if Greg ever redeemed his voucher or not, but if he didn’t, he truly missed out!
The only problem I had with Hello Fresh is that if you don’t log in to select your meals by a certain time, they select which meals to send you. Also, you have the option of “skipping” weeks, but you have to remember to log in to “skip” those weeks. Otherwise, an automatic shipment of their choice will go out to you.
Being that warmer weather is finally here – yeah!!! – and we will be going boating, RVing, and horseback riding, we decided to discontinue our Hello Fresh at this time. It was easy to go into the Hello Fresh app and deactivate the account. I followed up with an email to them as well, as I had read that people had trouble canceling their subscription. I didn’t want this to be a problem for me and my credit card to continuously be billed. That process was easy as well, and a nice representative responded acknowledging my desire to cancel. When the cold weather arrives later in the year, we may reactivate our account again.
This was the first time we’d ever tried a food delivery service, but we were pleasantly surprised by them. We have kept the recipe cards so we can make the meals ourselves later with ingredients from our local grocery store. It was so nice to have everything delivered right to our door! I could get used to that part, but it’s the waiting around that absolutely kills my husband. Ha! The second shipment was to be delivered by the end of day that Saturday. While the first delivery came earlier in the day at noon, the second delivery came around 6 p.m. He hated “waiting around” for the package to be delivered. I didn’t have anything planned that day, so the wait really did not bother me as much.
We had a really nice experience with Hello Fresh. I had read a lot of reviews where people spoke of not receiving all of the ingredients with their packages or receiving spoiled food. Thankfully, that was not the case for us!
