We are obliged to you

I have not had a glass of this wine yet. It is still at the office. I was tempted to chill it this afternoon but I will wait until the weekend. It's a great gift that was sent to me from one of you. How's that for brilliant marketing. It is a bottle of white from the Megalomaniac Winery in Vineland, Ontario. They have found a great way to say thank you to health-care workers. The wine is labeled, "Much Obliged".

The winery is also visiting 30 hospitals and care homes to deliver cases of the red and white wine to brighten the day of health care workers.

My staff and I are much obliged to you. This bottle of wine sat at the front desk for a couple of days, giving us some much needed energy and encouragement. I am grateful for your openness and honesty on these posts. I am grateful for how you are reaching out to others who are struggling by giving just a line or two that talks about how you are struggling too. You are literally throwing out lifelines to people who desperately need them. The connections made between strangers have helped to fill so many voids out there.

I think it is time to be less fearful. Not less careful, but less fearful. There were only 287 new cases in Ontario today. That's the lowest since May 15th. The five day rolling average for Canada continues to decline with only 1065 new cases country-wide today, the lowest since March 31st. The number of people hospitalized continues to decline and the number of people in the ICU continues to decline. And, yep. Guelph made it to day 11 with no new cases.

Crack open that bottle of white. This is worth celebrating. We really need to celebrate our successes. Too much news out there is talking about the second wave and how it will hit in the summer or the fall, how it will be a bigger surge or a smaller surge than the first. Yes, a second wave may hit but are we not now prepared for that? Wasn't that the point of all of our hard work of self-isolating and distancing? We avoided, no obliterated the worst case scenario. We did that. We should celebrate, maybe not together and not in groups but in our weary hearts. Celebrate this. I certainly am. I will worry about a surge if and when it comes but today, I stay in the moment and I celebrate a significant victory. We are learning to live with this. There will be more heart ache but much more triumph.

Be less fearful. Go outside for a socially distanced walk. It is safe. Wear a mask in the grocery store and wash your hands when you get home but be less afraid while you are there. Look up at new leaves and squish your feet in green grass. It is so good for your mental health to be surrounded by green and to get outdoor exercise. Aim for 30 minutes a day of just walking. Start slow if you have not exercised in awhile or ever. This is a great time to start. Thirty minutes of exercise daily has the same effect on your mood as a low dose of an anti-depressant. Do it. It's safe. You can gather with 5 or fewer people outside. Stay six feet apart. A mask is added assurance. But we can socialize in this new strange way.

We can make do and still find joy while waiting for COVID 19 to pass and believe me, this too shall pass.

Here is what I think will happen next. More than 75 % of active and new cases are occurring in and around our large urban centres. This makes sense. It is much more difficult to be distanced in places with higher population densities. We need to focus more of our efforts on testing and tracking positive tests in these areas while slowly loosening restrictions. Just a bit more time folks.

Please reach out to give a hand or receive one.

March on....we've got this.

And thank you!!!

Anne-Marie

Please share.

For local assistance with anxiety and depression:
www.here4help.ca
CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca
Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca.
And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk
https://good2talk.ca/

And to help the vulnerable.

Relief efforts in Lesotho:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/covid-in-lesotho/

Relief efforts in Guelph:

https://www.guelphcf.ca/