I hope you’re staying calm, cool and collected during these frightening, unconcern times. If you have any good coping skills, please share. We can all use them.

Truth: I’m not coping well at all. My anxiety level was high before the coronavirus pandemic started.

I won’t go into why that is right here, but just know I have insomnia and had an appointment with a sleep expert at Northwestern scheduled for next week. I had waited six months to get in. I canceled the appointment.

Thanks to this pandemic, my anxiety has really amped up. Just the idea of going into a grocery store makes my heart pound.

I won’t even talk about the economy and my personal financial worries. At the risk of sounding like a crazy loon (if the shoe fits, wear it), here are some of the things that run through my monkey mind:

How long is it going to be before the grocery store clerks and pharmacy techs get the virus? These poor souls should have access to masks. How many people will they unknowingly infect while bravely serving the rest of us?

Taking someone’s temperature before allowing them to work or go into certain places is a good idea, but what’s to prevent people who are asystematic from spreading the disease?

Is it safe to touch your mail? The food you pick out in the grocery store? Your credit card once it goes in the machine? The medicines which are handed to you at CVS or Walgreens?

If you’re a caregiver and get the virus, how are you supposed to care for that person and self-isolate?

Will people ever stop hoarding food, cleaning supplies and toilet paper? Will I ever see friends and family again? How long will touching them be a no-no?

How long does the virus live on surfaces? I’ve heard conflicting information. They say the virus might live in the air. Is that true and for how long?

Even if they come up with a vaccine–which we know is a long way off, what’s to prevent the next one and the next one?

I’ll stop here. But it doesn’t help my anxiety level knowing that our president thinks it’s a personal insult if a reporter asks a question about our fears. Did you see how Trump bashed a reporter for doing so?

I know you can read other opinion pieces with positive ideas about how to cope with this crisis. Please read them all.

My wish is that by publicly sharing my fears it will help you open up about yours and not beat yourself up if you are also having difficulty coping. Please comment. Think of this as a coronavirus support group. Maybe we can help each other.

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