A thread about quarantine and living alone.

Making a post that I’ve wanted to make for a few days, but didn’t out of fear of judgement and of those with online pitchforks. But I think it’s important and so I’m going to do it anyway. Here goes.

Obviously we need to first and foremost be concerned right now about stopping the spread of the virus, staying at home, and social distancing when we must go out. I get that. But I’d like to ask everyone to also consider the mental health effects that we are all facing now.

I did okay with my first two weeks of quarantine. I found myself upbeat, happy to be at home with the dogs and feeling grateful for the friends who had delivered supplies to my doorstep. But in the third week I started to struggle.

I live alone with my dogs and I work from home, so it’s normal for me to go for days without human interaction. But in the third week, it got hard. Like really hard. I’m used to seeing friends, hugging those that I love, and engaging in meaningful activities in the community.

In that third week of quarantine, I found that I was not alone in my feelings of loneliness and doom. During my text, FaceTime, phone and Zoom chats with my other friends that live alone, I learned that they were struggling too.

Yes we can communicate with others virtually, all the time. But there’s no substitute for person to person interaction. There just isn’t. The informal and anecdotal study I conducted among friends of mine has shown that. Three weeks is about the limit of solitude for many.

I’m lucky, though. I was invited to endure the rest of the quarantine at home with people I truly love. They welcomed the dogs too. We’ve all been safe and I made no stops when driving to their house, so there was no risk of contracting the virus whilst en route.

I felt my anxiety start to disappear within an hour of arriving at their home. Now that I’ve been here a few days, I feel the calmest that I have in weeks. And we’re prepared to ride out this storm together.

#AloneTogether might make for a nice hashtag, but it’s really hard for people who live alone. So friends, please please make sure to stay in touch with the people that you know who live alone. They don’t have anyone to hug them. They don’t have anyone to hold their hand.

They don’t have anyone to laugh with. Our collective mental health is suffering right now, and I hope we can all do our best to support each other in this time. And if you’re struggling, please send me a message, etc. I’m here for you. Sending you guys all of my love and hugs. Xo