Cow’s Corona Corner – A Place for Alcoholics to Isolate Together
 

Cow and the moon. I had to read that a couple of times to make sure I did not miss the dish and the spoon. I don't do particularly well with too much time with nothing. I am kind of glad I have a job that I still need to keep up with. I would go crazy.

Hey Cow :)

reading around it looks like a lot of people are assessing whats really important to them - and alcohol's not making the final cut.

I think there may be some good come from this after all :)

D

Howdy Cow
I’m surely in your corner;)

I just made the drive to the lake after buttoning up the farm chores for a few days. Got one pup asleep on my lap, other sleeping in the “sidecar chair” next to me.

Brought a cooler of meat so my carnivore self is settled and happy.

Truthfully I have been practicing social isolation for twenty years or more so little has changed except grocery store run reduction for me. Also had a solid pantry prep at least that long too, and am able to work from home. I feel very lucky and my thoughts are with so many others lacking some or all of these things.

Drinking has been off table without regret for some time now. I think mindset finally dialed in, and the very low carb food Lifestyle may have been the combo I needed to finally get this sober forever thing figured out.

Caffeine is starting to bother me as my system clears, so I am also reducing the Java with a dream of stopping it for good as well.

So glad to see you back :grouphug:

Keeping 6feet apart Cow.

Was thinking today,by the end of this I will realise most of the materialistic stuff I have in my life is irrelevant and also I don’t need most of the food,back to my Irish childhood days,when it was potatoes and gravy to eat and tea to drink or water.

Moo to you too.

Belgium has been on lockdown since Monday, but we saw it coming for a week or so beforehand.

I seem to be working harder than ever by video conference. I have a business idea -- a screen that makes you look good on video conference -- I am sure it is a fortune maker. Wow does looking at yourself all day make one feel old. But I got great crones with me so, I can handle it.

I am increasingly in awe of the universe. I think I told you that one of my best friends and favourite clients died in December of a heart attack at 51. Devasting. That is five in two years of my closest friends all under 65 with no warning healthy people. But I digress.

The company asked me if I could help out and I have now taken it on as a FT gig. It is a life saver now as it makes me feel part of something and I am really not sure how I would have dealt with all of this without it. Its like my friend is taking care of me and I am taking care of the company on his behalf and it will also allow me to help his family. Really weird.

On a bigger level, like everyone I spend a lot of time thinking about this social/moral experiment that the universe has presented us with and what it is trying to tell us - slow down, stay close, you can do with less, you can save the planet -- maybe all of the above.

Anyway, the one thing I know for sure is that the world will not be the same in six months and I really hope we can get some good out of this as god knows the cost is high -- too high -- 1,200 people dead in two days in Italy, I really cannot get my head around it. My daugther knows at least 20 people who have it and none of whom are counted because there is virtually no testing.

I have also been thinking about how this will impact addicts who cannot get their DOC -- will there be a spike in recoveries when people are forced to stop, deaths from unsupervised w/d - I just don't know how people will cope with all of this and at the same time be forced into an unplanned recovery/withdrawl. Its funny that it is something that I think about, but I consider all of us with this condition to be sisters and brothers and wish them all -- us all -- well as we go through this together. Well as together as you can be when you are six feet apart and isolated in your homes!

And in addition to all that I worry about O -- where are you??? Please just drop us a one liner that you are OK. You know we worry.

Over and out, stay safe.

XXX

Thanks for the topic Cow. I'm here in Illinois, sheltered in place, and feeling pretty isolated. I have never done sobriety without AA meetings, so I sure am thankful for you all here. Good luck on giving up the coffee, that would be a nope for me right now.

Dropsie, I'm sorry about your friend. I'm 50 now and my mom was only 54 when a heart attack took her. It's just too young, and sad to never get to say goodbye.

My heart hurts for the whole world right now.

Hi Cow, thanks for starting the thread.

I'm up and down. NYC is looking pretty bad right now -- it's the strain on the health care system, and the incredible economic impacts -- places going out of business that will never open again. I feel for Europe. I've been walking to my deserted workplace every day because I can't stand staying at home, just glad they haven't locked me out yet. Maybe they will tomorrow, probably, but I'll go over anyway to wave to the security guard if nothing else. We're looking for volunteers in my building to disinfect common areas, do checks on the elderly, deliver groceries, man the lobby, sort mail -- everything, in case the staff can't come. Right now, I'm not even hoping for any good, I'm just trying to minimize bad.

Sorry, today wasn't an up day.

Hi, Cow. Hugs all around, especially to you, bunny.

We're gonna get through this. It's gonna be bad. I figure I live or die, exactly the same binary odds I had before COVID 19.

:lol: I keep editing my post. God knows which one you, "thanked," C2.

Hi bim. Nothing special about NYC on this one -- unless of course we come to looting and pillaging. Whatever we've got, y'all got it coming down the highway. Sorry to say that, but 'struth.

you are in quarantine, Cow, you say...that is quite different from social distance. oof, tougher.
since i am a natural at social distance, the hermit-thing suits me fine. i can still take doggo on trails, and go for a bikeride, read and knit and occasionally phone someone.
i wish we would hear from O.
very grateful for technology to keep connected.

I needed to read that today - thanks Bim:)

D

Hi cow thanks for starting a thread.

I don’t know that I have the energy for anything, although a fast from social media and my tablet would be most welcome.

Not only am I bombarded with covid posts all day on my day off but I’ve got an essential job that I really wish was nonessential, in this supposedly greatest country on earth that does not have enough masks in a fierce and unrelenting pandemic. I suppose I am simply to sacrifice myself out there, because if i do not, someone else must take my place. Someone has to do it.

Eating all the things, all the sugar, all the breads. Much heartburn. Much sadness. Much complete lack of caring about the scale, however.

Also, how does one homeschool when you 1. Don’t want to and 2. Can’t do math to save your life? What is common core, anyway??

These things are perplexing, and multiple, so I say this; if demon virus takes me out, I won’t have to deal with any of it anymore. However, if it takes me out too early, I will never satisfy my morbid curiosity about what becomes of us, the real virus. And what the world would look like without it’s purulent infection of humans, though I am one of the viral embodied, indeed.

I understand the fear but I'm glad there are people like you who are staying at their post stayingsassy.

D

My thoughts are with you Sassy if you’re having to put yourself in the middle of it. And good point about humans being the virus. I had some "environmental" education so was taught nature always has its ways of restoring balance. As much as we like to think otherwise, if it comes down to it this planet will be the end of humanity before we're the end of it.

Anyway, I feel like my awful sickness in January (I thought I had strep but did not, and wasn’t tested for the regular flu but it had to be at least that considering I had a fever for days) was a weird foreshadowing to all this. Aside from one other time I’ve never been that physically miserable in my life. So if I really let myself think about it.. I could easily become paranoid or a hypochondriac. But I’m remaining calm.

I'm also eating a lot of sugar but have been going on walks or hikes every day to get out of the house. And I've decided I can work out at home too following online videos. My sleep schedule still hasn't adjusted to normal day hours but it's getting slightly better. Not letting myself worry about money although I will be filing for unemployment just for whatever small amount that might give me.

If this had happened early in my sobriety I could see it being a disaster for my mental health, but at this point I'm just using it as an opportunity to rest and re-evaluate some things.

a good thing to remember is that most of us who will get infected will just be ill for a little while, mostly mildly, and will be just fine.

Yeah, it certainly is the epitome of human arrogance to think that we are in any way in charge.

The planet will go on without us.

Except you know someone will have some three mile underground 20,000-year supplied shelter and their ancestors will make it past whatever kills the rest of us. Good for them. I won't be here to worry about it.

Personally, I'm good. I fear insanity and addiction, not sickness or death. But I've never dealt with the kind of economic collapse that may come out of this. Us grown-ups can just say, whatever, we were halfway checking-out already. But the Millenials! My son among them. O brave new world.

I just did my regular Saturday morning AA meeting online, and we mostly discussed isolation. Here on the island, we would like to think we are protected but unfortunately everybody else has that idea and comes here for protection. The governor has not locked down the state, and the ferries on Friday afternoon to the islands were full. Out of 6,000 residents on 55 square miles, we have one known case of Coronavirus.

I am hopeful that this doesn't kill me, and that maybe some good changes will come to our healthcare system. Thanks for posting here to all of you, and I wish you peace and health.

I am in self isolation,have felt very down about it alll,don’t think the reality of it has sunk in yet.For me it is all about acceptance and I am not there yet.

I also know of several people with the virus now,so that makes it more real,so far all are recovering. Easy to forget that most people do.

I live in a small village,we have a helpline set up now a 24hour one and everyone is being supportive.

I am not that sociable anyway,but do like the gym and my AA meetings,doing online ones of which there are plenty.

I take my dog out every day for a walk,drive and walk him in isolation,he is fiesty.I couldn’t believe how many people were out and about in big groups.Our National Parks have been mega busy and people driving to the highlands of Scotland to isolate in their camper vans,areas that don’t have adequate medical care in the first place.

My son lives with me and is still working as his job is considered vital,he is worried he is going to bring the virus home,it is not the virus that worries me,it is people’s behaviour,not doing as our Government advise.

Take care all and stay safe.

I don't think this will be apocalyptic either. My guess is we are heading into an era wherein quite a number of chickens will be coming home to roost. Increasing impacts of climate change and greed, more viruses, bacteria unresponsive to antibiotics....I feel for younger people too. It's all pretty bleak and difficult to put a positive spin on :-/

Unfortunately I don't really have anything to add other than my personal experience. This is definitely the most peculiar human experience I've gone through in life. The whole world is hanging on and that makes it a little easier to take in. Fortunately, I've had zero desire to drink from all this. Even though my anxiety is probably at 120%, but I'm navigating it in the healthiest ways that I can.

Iowa here. I'm still expected to go into work, but contact is pretty minimal. Fortunate I still have a paycheck coming, but dividing my time between work and home only. While I certainly am fearful of getting sick... on the other hand I'm hopeful we can navigate through this. It won't be pretty. Alternatively, living with a mandated, indefinite mysophobia for a long-term is no life to live in my mind, soooo... I guess we'll just keep hanging on for now.

Here's one: official New York City Department of Health policy recommends masturbation.

I'm glad I don't live in Yemen where 56,000 cases of cholera have been reported in the first 7 weeks of 2020. No clean water, and kids with malnutrition. Health care collapsing.

And all the shelves are empty. :headbange

Those camps do not give much opportunity for social distancing. When it arrives in those camps pity the poor innocents.

At least we're in with a chance.

Thanks for that perspective Steely. As rough as this might be, all of us here on this forum lead a privileged life.

We will get through this.

D

Happy to see your new thread, Cow :)

These are definitely strange days. I was laid off last week so am doing self isolation as much as possible. Most everything is closed now so that makes it easier.

I am grateful to be sober on the best of days and grateful to be sober on the worst of days and that hasn't changed.

I am a believer and my faith in God has not wavered.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Eckhart Tolle made a video message called "Staying Concious in the Face of Adversity"that was a huge help to me and could be to others. You can watch it on Youtube if you're interested.

I've been recommending that for years! :lmao

My little office remains open for business. Just two of us here, so "social distancing" is not a problem! I live alone and can still get the necessities (I even found some toilet paper on the shelf today), so really not a whole lot has changed for me. I watched too much news on Friday night, so woke up yesterday kinda freaking out. I host an online recovery meeting every Saturday morning, so my peeps there set me straight again. Feeling optimistic this morning that everything will work out as it should.