Tag: COVID-19

Does COVID-19 cause carb cravings (or is it just me?)

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 30 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

I’ve heard it said that some people lose their appetite during stressful times. These people are not my relatives. Indeed, in our Ukrainian family tradition, we love food, and we eat when we’re happy, we eat when we’re upset, and we eat during all possible emotions in between.

So amid the stressful reality of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, stress eating in our family can mean only one thing: carbohydrate cravings.            .

Continue reading “Does COVID-19 cause carb cravings (or is it just me?)” →

The uncertainty of hitting that pandemic wall

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 21 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

One thing is becoming clear as we pass the two-month milestone of our current COVID-19 global pandemic: I don’t like uncertainty.

I like feeling in charge of tomorrow’s plans. I like things that make sense to me. I like being pretty sure of what’s coming up  next. But precious little certainty exists any more for me (or for anybody else – including those tiresome politicians pretending to know).  I’m not sure of very much these days and by now, I’ve had enough of uncertainty.

But I do like the way psychotherapist Nancy Colier explained this level of pandemic uncertainty recently. She compared it to “hitting the wall” during the last few miles of running a 26.2-mile marathon.  .     .
 Continue reading “The uncertainty of hitting that pandemic wall” →

The real reason we’re so tired of Zoom calls

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 19 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters 

From my scheduled chats with friends and family to weekly Toastmasters meetings or Sunday morning crafting calls, my calendar now seems increasingly filled with Zoom appointments (and those are just the fun ones, not counting the Heart Sisters-related meetings with people I don’t even know, like researchers, students or media). I thought at first that my own Zoom fatigue* – yes, even chatting with those I know and love – was due to adjusting to the differences between video calls and in-person communication.

But then I read an intriguing essay by Dr. Evan Selinger called The Problem Isn’t Zoom Fatigue — It’s Mourning Life as We Knew It.     .        . Continue reading “The real reason we’re so tired of Zoom calls” →

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 22 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

“Are we there yet?” – the timeworn wail from kidlets in the back seat on family road trips. When he was very little, I gave my son Ben five nickels at the start of one memorable trip (it was back in the 1980s, when a nickel was worth a nickel!) with one strict condition: every time he whined, “Are we there yet? How much longer?”, he’d have to forfeit one nickel. After giving up the first two nickels, we heard not one more peep from that little boy tightly clutching his three remaining coins. (Parents: if you try this strategy, considering inflation, you’ll probably have to give your kid five $10 bills up front).

After months of our current COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are as frustrated as Ben in the back seat. We’re hearing more every day about “re-opening” our communities, but are we really there yet?     .    Continue reading “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” →