We are not meant to live in isolation. What makes us healthy and whole are the connections we form with one another.  With our families. Our friends. Our colleagues and our community…  The thing we need the most to feel healthy has become harder to get.

After more than 30 years in the field of social work, I know one thing to be true. We do not need to be victims to our situation. We have choices to make, each and every day about how we want to live our lives. How we choose to show up for ourselves and each other.

One of the hardest things about this time for me has been the loss of travel, the opportunity to explore. If you know me, you know I love to travel. Give me a passport and a seat on a plane or in a car and I’m on my way, ready for what comes next. I thought it might be fun to travel, however virtually, around the US and yes, even abroad, to visit with people and hear how they’re doing during this difficult time. Over the next few weeks I’d like to bring you a glimpse of what life is like for our friends and neighbors in other places.

Today we travel to the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia to meet Marc.

Welcome Marc. How are things in Melbourne? I consider myself very lucky when I see pictures of other areas of the world. As of this week we are slowly easing out of lock down after 7 weeks. When I see other countries around the world doing the same thing when their death tolls and case numbers are so high, I consider Australia very successful. We were able to lower our curve with 98 deaths and 590 active cases of Covid-19 in the entire country right now. As of yesterday we were allowed to see our families again and I got to have dinner with my parents which was lovely. 

How have you been affected by the pandemic personally?  I am considered an essential worker. I am a social support coordinator at an aged care facility. My job right now is as important as ever as I look after the leisure, health and spiritual needs of the residents of the home I work in. Whilst in some countries and even a few places in Australia, Aged Care Facilities have become houses of horrors, I have never felt so safe going to work for a company that has been so on top of this horrible virus from the beginning. Our temperatures are checked daily  and we have even had a Covid-19 drill. As I wasn’t able to see my own family for so long, my residents and colleagues have become my family. Together we have brought cheer, joy, laughter and love to our home through a range of different methods, theme days, art, exercise, and music. We have had to sometimes think outside the box due to restrictions in place such as social distancing. The other day we had a belly dancer dancing outside the window for an hour and a half as our residents were mesmerized from the other side. 

We have helped maintain connection with family members and their parents through iPads and window visits. Luckily so far, all is well where I work and no one has been effected by the virus. 

I also worked as an usher in a theatre that played mostly musicals. Even though I  was working it really practically was my social life. I’d get to go into the city to work and have fun doing my job and getting to see live theatre 3 to 4 nights a week. This has been hard as all theaters are now closed and it looks like we may not be reopening until sometime next year. I feel sorry for all the performers out there who are trying so hard to find alternate ways to make a buck. The other night they got together and put on a Facebook live concert singing from their lounge rooms where they were able to raise up over 13,000 dollars that would be split between them. 

The extra money I made working at the theatre did help with my mortgage but seeing as though nothing is open and I can’t spend any money,  I have been able to survive on my part time job. 

What has been the hardest thing for you to deal with? The hardest thing is probably my fitness levels. I like to stay active and not being able to go to a gym or fitness training classes, it’s been hard to motivate myself and eat clean foods. When you are sitting in front of a tv binging on Netflix, you just want to open a bag of Doritos and dip and pour yourself a glass of wine and order Uber Eats.

What have you appreciated during this period? I have loved spending time with my fur baby daughter Lola every night. I don’t know what I’d do without her. 

I also have appreciated reconnecting with people through other means than just a text message, now back on calls and even better FaceTime, Zoom and HouseParty. Several years ago I moved to L.A. and really struggled with my mental health as I tried so hard to make it work.  When I left Australia, I had so many people I considered friends at my going away party. But at the time I needed them the most, I only had several friends I could reach out to who would actually return my calls and speak to me in person. We’d made texting such an accepted part of our culture that it was hard to reconnect with anyone other than through social media. It’s so impersonal. I really wonder if we did a survey, how many people could actually say they really did laugh out loud when they send an LOL? 

Now we find ourselves in the unique situation where we all are yearning for the same human need to desperately connect again and it’s been happening! 

What are you doing to keep yourself emotionally healthy during this time?  I have been running, 5 to 10km runs every couple of days and walk my dog daily. It has been great to be out in nature in all its glory with its such wonderful smells and sounds which strangely are enhanced during this time. I also have been making use of meditating with my queer meditation group that I am apart of which would usually take place in an actual space but currently is happening on Zoom instead.  I have also been connecting with my theatre work colleagues on Zoom every Sunday where we have been running trivia nights.

With the restrictions easing as of yesterday, I also look forward to having the opportunity to head up to what we call the Dandenong Ranges this weekend and finally going for a hike breathing in the crisp autumn air. 

Thanks for inspiring us and for sharing your experience, Marc.

Let’s broaden the conversation, shall we? Would you like to be featured in our guest interview posts? We want to hear from you! Email me at suzanne@suzannemaggio.com.