Mikell Reed
"Pandemic Positivity"
Pandemic Positivity
Trying to remain positive during the corona virus pandemic has not been easy, I am not going to lie. Its been hard sometimes, but its so needed and its what has kept me going.
My family and I have essentially been on lock-down since February 24th, when we returned from a family road trip to Milan. We live in Zagreb, Croatia, so Milan is only about a six and a half hour drive away. We had the trip planned since December and lucky us it just happened to be when the corona virus pandemic had a major outbreak in Milan and thus started the European and soon worldwide wide lockdown a few weeks later.
We were in Milan from February 20-24th and first learned about the outbreak on local news in the apartment we were renting out late Saturday February 22nd and honestly didn’t think too much about it since it seemed to only be about 100 cases in a fairly large city and was said to be on the outskirts of Milan.
We started out on our journey back to Zagreb on Monday February 24th, just in time to be told we should self-isolate for 2 weeks just to be sure since we were fortunate enough to enter Croatia just one day after they decided to implement a self-isolation order to anyone traveling to Croatia from the Milan area.
We felt lucky that we had a small storeroom full of non-perishables and friends and delivery services willing to being us fresh milk and eggs.
We were a little worried about possibly having contracted the coronavirus since I had modeled in a Milan Fashion week event at a crowded venue with attendees and models from all over the world but we monitored ourselves and none of the five of us had any symptoms and were relieved when the self-isolation ended on March 9th and we could get back to “normal, “ or so we thought.
Our 5-year-old returned to school and we returned to work, for a few days at least. Then within a few days a case was recorded in Croatia and Croatian schools and our son’s private school shut down and within a week all non-essential businesses closed. Basically, grocery stores, stores selling personal care items, gas stations and bakeries were allowed to stay open.
So after just a few days of freedom we were locked down again. In addition, we started to tele-work to maintain the social distancing guidelines implemented by the Croatian government.
However, we were lucky in that while many European countries had strict policies closing all parks, not allowing people outside their homes except to get to essential places like work or to the grocery store, etc., Croatia was not as strict and we were free to take walks, go hiking and visit local parks.
Now back to the pandemic positivity part! Each day as I would begin to feel stressed and disappointed in all the things I felt I was missing out on like cafes, eating out, seeing friends, spas and cancelled trips; instead, I tried to focus on what we did have. We had a house, a yard, jobs that were still providing us paychecks, plenty of food and more time with family at home. We also had technology that allowed us to keep in touch with many family and friends. I am not saying I didn’t sometimes still feel sorry for myself that I was missing friends and family and several long anticipated trips, but when I did start to feel sad or disappointed I thought about how there were many others in far worse situations than our family and also began to think about how we could give back.
I began researching ways I could somehow give back and make a difference to those who were not in situations as nice as ours. I found several charities to donate to that were helping those during tough times. I sent care packages to friends and family back home in the US that were having a rough time and tried to make extra efforts to connect with those I thought may be having challenges as well.
Then a real curve ball was thrown our way; a major earthquake hit Zagreb. Our family was literally shaken and all of a sudden the pandemic took a back seat. In fact, though the earthquake scared the hell out of all of us, it was nice in a way because for several days we did not think at all about coronavirus.
Luckily, the earthquake, the largest in over 100 years in Zagreb, only caused minor damage to the city and only one death was recorded. We were also lucky and had no major damage to our house.
Still, now we had daily aftershocks along with a worldwide pandemic to contend with. Could we remain positive?
We tried and the beautiful warm weather helped us significantly! Sometimes it is the small things! Nice weather, grilling out, making new cocktails, hanging outside with the kids, hiking and just enjoying our outdoor space in general. We certainly have been eating well, maybe a little too well as the scale has tipped a bit in the higher direction since this lockdown began, but anything to remain positive right?
Though the pandemic is in no way close to being over, Croatia is one of the lucky European countries to not be extremely hard hit by the virus and has slowly started to re-open. Now salons, national parks, spas, restaurants and cafes can begin to operate.
I am hopeful that even after re-opening the country will continue to have declining cases of coronavirus and we can begin to get back to “normal.” Only time will tell, but I once again am trying to remain positive in the face of challenging times.
I hope all the USA can also begin to heal from this struggle that has both divided and united us globally. Separating us physically while also showing us how similar we all are and that we are all just human and no one is immune to a virus and that we are connected in more ways than we know.
When you start to feel hopeless or scared about the situation, reach out, you are not alone. Also try to put things into perspective and think about what you do have that is good and even what you may have gained from this situation. Think about giving back if you can. Can you volunteer in some way or donate to local or global charities that are helping during this crisis? Perhaps you can just reach out to others you know may need someone to listen. Giving to others is always a sure-fire way to feel better yourself.
Lastly, please be kind! Know that kindness can go a long way in challenging times and that a little kindness can go a long way to help you and others feel more positive. Ultimately, we are all in this together and will get through this together. This is not the first or last pandemic and most have somehow survived those in the past just as we will this one.
Stay strong and stay safe!
Mikell Reed Carroll for Copa Style Magazine
Trying to remain positive during the corona virus pandemic has not been easy, I am not going to lie. Its been hard sometimes, but its so needed and its what has kept me going.
My family and I have essentially been on lock-down since February 24th, when we returned from a family road trip to Milan. We live in Zagreb, Croatia, so Milan is only about a six and a half hour drive away. We had the trip planned since December and lucky us it just happened to be when the corona virus pandemic had a major outbreak in Milan and thus started the European and soon worldwide wide lockdown a few weeks later.
We were in Milan from February 20-24th and first learned about the outbreak on local news in the apartment we were renting out late Saturday February 22nd and honestly didn’t think too much about it since it seemed to only be about 100 cases in a fairly large city and was said to be on the outskirts of Milan.
We started out on our journey back to Zagreb on Monday February 24th, just in time to be told we should self-isolate for 2 weeks just to be sure since we were fortunate enough to enter Croatia just one day after they decided to implement a self-isolation order to anyone traveling to Croatia from the Milan area.
We felt lucky that we had a small storeroom full of non-perishables and friends and delivery services willing to being us fresh milk and eggs.
We were a little worried about possibly having contracted the coronavirus since I had modeled in a Milan Fashion week event at a crowded venue with attendees and models from all over the world but we monitored ourselves and none of the five of us had any symptoms and were relieved when the self-isolation ended on March 9th and we could get back to “normal, “ or so we thought.
Our 5-year-old returned to school and we returned to work, for a few days at least. Then within a few days a case was recorded in Croatia and Croatian schools and our son’s private school shut down and within a week all non-essential businesses closed. Basically, grocery stores, stores selling personal care items, gas stations and bakeries were allowed to stay open.
So after just a few days of freedom we were locked down again. In addition, we started to tele-work to maintain the social distancing guidelines implemented by the Croatian government.
However, we were lucky in that while many European countries had strict policies closing all parks, not allowing people outside their homes except to get to essential places like work or to the grocery store, etc., Croatia was not as strict and we were free to take walks, go hiking and visit local parks.
Now back to the pandemic positivity part! Each day as I would begin to feel stressed and disappointed in all the things I felt I was missing out on like cafes, eating out, seeing friends, spas and cancelled trips; instead, I tried to focus on what we did have. We had a house, a yard, jobs that were still providing us paychecks, plenty of food and more time with family at home. We also had technology that allowed us to keep in touch with many family and friends. I am not saying I didn’t sometimes still feel sorry for myself that I was missing friends and family and several long anticipated trips, but when I did start to feel sad or disappointed I thought about how there were many others in far worse situations than our family and also began to think about how we could give back.
I began researching ways I could somehow give back and make a difference to those who were not in situations as nice as ours. I found several charities to donate to that were helping those during tough times. I sent care packages to friends and family back home in the US that were having a rough time and tried to make extra efforts to connect with those I thought may be having challenges as well.
Then a real curve ball was thrown our way; a major earthquake hit Zagreb. Our family was literally shaken and all of a sudden the pandemic took a back seat. In fact, though the earthquake scared the hell out of all of us, it was nice in a way because for several days we did not think at all about coronavirus.
Luckily, the earthquake, the largest in over 100 years in Zagreb, only caused minor damage to the city and only one death was recorded. We were also lucky and had no major damage to our house.
Still, now we had daily aftershocks along with a worldwide pandemic to contend with. Could we remain positive?
We tried and the beautiful warm weather helped us significantly! Sometimes it is the small things! Nice weather, grilling out, making new cocktails, hanging outside with the kids, hiking and just enjoying our outdoor space in general. We certainly have been eating well, maybe a little too well as the scale has tipped a bit in the higher direction since this lockdown began, but anything to remain positive right?
Though the pandemic is in no way close to being over, Croatia is one of the lucky European countries to not be extremely hard hit by the virus and has slowly started to re-open. Now salons, national parks, spas, restaurants and cafes can begin to operate.
I am hopeful that even after re-opening the country will continue to have declining cases of coronavirus and we can begin to get back to “normal.” Only time will tell, but I once again am trying to remain positive in the face of challenging times.
I hope all the USA can also begin to heal from this struggle that has both divided and united us globally. Separating us physically while also showing us how similar we all are and that we are all just human and no one is immune to a virus and that we are connected in more ways than we know.
When you start to feel hopeless or scared about the situation, reach out, you are not alone. Also try to put things into perspective and think about what you do have that is good and even what you may have gained from this situation. Think about giving back if you can. Can you volunteer in some way or donate to local or global charities that are helping during this crisis? Perhaps you can just reach out to others you know may need someone to listen. Giving to others is always a sure-fire way to feel better yourself.
Lastly, please be kind! Know that kindness can go a long way in challenging times and that a little kindness can go a long way to help you and others feel more positive. Ultimately, we are all in this together and will get through this together. This is not the first or last pandemic and most have somehow survived those in the past just as we will this one.
Stay strong and stay safe!
Mikell Reed Carroll for Copa Style Magazine