This past week was the toughest week I’ve had in quarantine so far. It marked the end of week 6 of being home alone, just me and my 8 year old daughter. It marked the end of week 4 of working from home as a teacher in this “continuation of learning” model. It was my birthday. The rain returned after some gloriously sunny days. I suddenly began to shift from “I got this. I was made for quarantine” to “I don’t got this. I need a hug”.
Social media isn’t helping with all the mixed messages. People who are loving quarantine. People who are hating it. Over generalizations everywhere. The extroverts are suffering. The introverts are in heaven. I love working from home; I needed a break. I hate working from home; it’s more work than being at work. The only general consensus I’ve noticed is that NO TWO PEOPLE ARE COPING THE SAME. It does not matter how similar their personalities or circumstances are. We are all coping differently and that ability to cope is changing day to day!
The last day that I was out in the world before quarantine, I went to Ikea and bought myself these plants. It was a gamble. For someone whose birthday is on Earth Day, I’m as far from a green thumb as they come. They started out great but in usual Melissa fashion, watering became an after thought and they slowly began to look… well… like this. But what strikes me about them is how different they are today. Same plant. Bought from the same store on the same day. Kept in the same place. Watered the same amount at the same times. It would be unfair to say one is dying and one is thriving. Let’s call a spade a spade. One is dying. The other is desperately trying to live despite my poor abilities to tend to it. But it is undeniable that they are handling the same circumstances in different ways.
As humans we ALL need to learn not to judge one another by our personal experiences. We all need to recognize that what makes us different is what makes the world work. It’s what makes me believe that we’re all going to get through this. My plants are living (or maybe not so living) proof that we all respond to challenging circumstances in different ways. And thank goodness for that ❤️
The Infinite Iris 