Hold on... Are We Living in the First Chapter of a Real Dystopian Novel?

Are we? Is this chapter one...? No, not thinking so. But it does feel like it.

So, not used to doing this for this long. Not used to being away from people for long periods of time. Not accustomed to being cooped up for long periods of time. Even for someone who writes, it's a little unnerving. Yes - you have an image of a writer in your head, engrossed in her own little world sitting for hours on end at a laptop in sweatpants or a bathrobe.... okay, sweatpants yes, but I draw the line at sitting in a bathrobe all day.

This said, I have been nursing some health issues of late that have kept me from working at the best job in the world - teaching. At least I had physio to look forward to, now that's been shelved, too.

Anyhow, we've all been practicing physical distancing for a couple weeks now and I do believe it's easier for some than others. Frankly most of the time, I'm quite comfortable at home, in my world of characters and blank pages waiting to be filled, but right now, using this time to write... well, it feels wrong somehow. Notwithstanding the fact that the meds I'm forced to swallow everyday for pain are rendering me sluggish and a little unfocused, I feel blocked, and uncreative, like my imagination has been hindered by the news and shortages and infected people having to die because there aren't enough ventilators and medical professionals having to triage who lives and who dies. This terrible thing we're living through.

As someone who has read many stories about dystopian societies, viruses and infections running amok and wiping out most of the world population... it's scary. Is this how it all starts for real? Is this chapter one? I tell my daughters to remember this well. These events are history. This will be written about; movies and books will be cranked out about all this very soon. How we recall this terrible event depends on how resilient we are, how we treat our neighbors, how we share, how we take care of each other, how we follow the rules. In short, how we act... as a population and as world citizens, will mark how we lived through this.

'Stay well' and 'be healthy' has taken on a whole new meaning. Do your part. Help others, to help you. Follow the rules and stay well.