Positively Tuesday-Checking on Family and Friends

     It maybe feels easy to reach out to family and friends about specific physical needs they might have. "I can pick up a second gallon of milk and drop it by." "I've got a slew of board games if anyone needs them." When we ourselves might be feeling low during this period of social distancing, hearing from others how they may be struggling can be tougher. My daughter found this and posted it on Facebook. She had a pretty significant number of people respond with yellow hearts or lower. Her troglodyte mother had to be told how to create the emoji;I was orange at the time I saw the post and commented. 

     She also though had most people saying, "Thanks for asking." or "I appreciate that you are thinking of this." Some people are very good at asking for a boost from others. Others may feel they have to be strong and shelter those around them from feeling sad and insecure. It is a little something, but being able to honestly say, I'm starting to struggle, or I need to reach out for support even through just a follow-up comment, invites others to pick up that phone and have that conversation and social connectedness many of us are craving.

     It's great if you don't feel like your life has changed much at all. People who are home bodies already, and very comfortable with their home based hobbies may not be feeling the impact at Shelter at Home and Social Distancing. I'm happy for them, but I'm not one of them, and neither are my family members. While none of us, well except for the youngest, have posse's of people and a plethora of plans every weekend, we're what you might call Extroverted Introverts. Described by Google as "extroverted introvert would get energy from being alone, but still enjoy interacting with others." If people like my family are having this difficulty, I can't imagine how challenging this is on the true extroverts.

     So yes, while this is not a war time situation, and no one is hiding from the enemy, or maybe we kind of are, ways of life has been forced to change in a very short period of time, for many people. That can't be minimized. So if you are inclined, use the emoji chart above in your own social media circles, then pick up the phone and reach out to those folks displaying green, teal, and purple. Keep an eye out for those yellow hearts as well. They might just be trying to keep strong for everyone else, and inside, are crumbling a bit.

Note: This post is not intended to be advice or mental health counseling of any kind. It is merely one human to another thinking about how to be useful.