Funk This Pandemic

Image credit unknown: Google

I'm moving at a snail's pace, these days.

What typically takes me a few minutes to complete can now take about an hour; what usually can be done in an hour or two will take me most of the day.

My energy levels are at an all-time low. Even sitting at my desk, banging out this blog post, I could feel gravity pulling me lower and lower into my chair, the weight on my fingers making me struggle to hit the keys on my keyboard.

Every winter, I feel the blues, but with the COVID lockdown in place, the many grey days of January, I feel it all the more. Each day is another battle against myself.

I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. My alarm goes off at 6:30 and the cheerful sound of Bixby tells me in a British woman's voice the time, the current temperature, and the day's forecast. No matter how cold, how cloudy or foggy, she ends the morning announcement with "Have a lovely day!"

Fuck you, Bixby.

Since I've returned to work—after a 17-day holiday, at home—I've been lucky if I've dragged myself out of bed before 8:00. Some mornings, I have finally arisen for the 8:30 news and have moved, slowly, into the home office, not bothering to change out of my pajamas. On my lunch break, when I'm at my peak levels of energy, I use the time to shower, shave, and get dressed.

I've been ending my workday by pushing myself to get on my spin bike, to continue on my challenge to virtually cover the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. On a good day, I'll cover nearly 20 kilometres, which isn't a long ride by my usual standards. On a bad day, I'll skip the bike and only add the less-than three kilometres that I cover simply by walking around the house.

And then I'm spent for the rest of the evening, becoming a lump in front of the television.

It's the pandemic that has put me in this funk. This virus should have died out months ago, but government inaction and lax policies, mixed with stupid people, have dragged this pandemic on.

It makes me mad. And brings me down. And saps my strength.

How are you coping?

Stay safe. Stay home. Wear a mask.

Image: Google