By Selina Seesunkur
As Covid-19 became a worldwide pandemic, and governments were putting their countries into lockdown, I was in bed with a cold. Having spent months organising a community Fashion and Talent show, which was subsequently cancelled due to early fears surrounding Corona Virus, I was tired and worn out.
I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so when my body wants to sleep it will, but I am also incredibly energetic and the prospect of staying in bed unnerved me. I watched a bunch of movies but quickly got bored as my brain began to itch. I opened up my laptop only to find a social media frenzy of bulk buying reports, shouts for help where the elderly could no longer walk down to the pharmacy to get their prescriptions, and cries from people who had gone to the supermarket only to find all the shelves bare! It was soul-destroying watching this unfold as I lay in bed.
Being a social person, I was really looking forward to catching up with friends in a few weeks’ time, but it was clear that this was now not going to happen. I get irritable if I am at home for too long without speaking to people so I could see this was going to be an issue. But my craving is just that, a craving. I know people who would go into depression if they could not go out and be part of the world, I also know people who would also spiral at the prospect of being alone, so completely alone. But what to do?
My best ideas tend to come to me in my sleep, and it was in this way that the concept of the Self-Isolation Plan, a SIP, was born. The idea was to get people to think about a routine, something I was told by my own physiotherapist was a good idea for people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My friend was also given the same advice for something he was going through. He was also told to keep his mind busy during the day to help him sleep at night. To get my concept out there, I launched a Facebook help group, which attracted over a 1000 members in over two weeks. Whilst this was exciting, I had to ensure the page remained meaningful, so I used my network to provide areas of expertise on issues such as mindfulness, fitness and gardening. We have people who post regularly on these subjects, but most surprising was how much people love sharing humour, which has been tricky to manage as people tend to get offended by different things, but the key rules are nothing offensive, nothing political and nothing which incites hatred or violence. I also have a team of 3 admin and two moderators to help.
I did not anticipate the amount of positive feedback we are getting, and one member said he thought the page was a lifesaver! I do wonder what will happen to the page once we are over the Corona Virus, answers on a postcard!
