Mental Health in lockdown

has to be discussed. People are saying that. I agree.

But mental health needs to be discussed anyway. I am struggling right now. There have been multiple issues, some of which I am not free to talk about, that have been causing me a lot of concern. 

I know too many other people who are saying that they are not connecting with family or friends because the restrictions on doing so are more than they can handle.  They say the "little things" are not happening. 

Someone phoned me yesterday and when I asked if there was something she needed she said, "I just wanted to talk to someone. I haven't spoken to anyone for four days."  Her neighbours are not at home during the day and over this last weekend they were apparently too busy to check on her.

I know someone else who has struggled with "anorexia nervosa" for years. She used to go out each morning and sit in one of the coffee areas in the shopping centre. The staff knew her and her problem and they would see to it that they chatted to her as they went about their work. Other people would come in and chat to her. She was putting on some much needed weight. The present situation has put a stop to that.

I have four young friends who have been through multiple medical issues together. They have known each other since they were learning to knit as seven and eight year old patients at the children's hospital. My late friend M.... taught them first and I have been involved with them since her death. They are wonderful young people but,because of their medical issues, they have been in what amounts to isolation for months now.  One of them has had major cardiac surgery. They are trying to retain their sanity and some sort of positive outlook on life by knitting for other people. It's been very difficult for them and they are finding it very hard to cope. They naturally envy the other young people they know who are getting on with their lives at least to some extent.

There is no support for people like this or so many others like them. We have handled the pandemic here so differently. I know it has all been done with the best of intentions but the reality is that there are going to be more cases, many more cases. At present we are hiding away and hoping that, if we keep quiet and still, the virus will go away. It's a ridiculous idea. We are cancelling some events but allowing others and doing it in ways that seem to have no rhyme or reason. People are simply giving up. The economy is taking a major hit because work is suffering and businesses are going to the wall. The "keep everyone safe" strategy is not really keeping us safe at all. This morning's paper was sounding the alarm because a Covid positive "truckie" (lorry driver) briefly visited two sites in the state. Contact tracing might or might not be working but how many people have been told to isolate because they might or might not have come into contact with that one person? What are their employers saying?

I don't know how much longer this can go on. The other night I found myself answering back at the spokesman for the US President as she spoke on the news service. She is probably a very nice person but I was so fed up and upset I wanted to shout - and that is not like me.

So last night I took out some of my yarn "stash" and looked at it. The only answer to all this is to make something for someone who needs it, someone far worse off than I am. I've got enough there for a small blanket for someone to snuggle under. Does this sound like a good idea?