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 meet Martina who lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Welcome, Martina: Tell us about where you live: We don’t have a lot of restrictions here, but it seems that everyone is trying their best to limit social contacts. The main official restriction forbids public gatherings with more than 50 people. Work from home is encouraged and advised, but it’s not mandatory. Schools and kindergartens are full of children, restaurants and bars that have table or takeout services are still quite busy, even gyms are still open and public transportation operates as usual. Life is affected, but not like in the rest of Europe.

How have you been affected by the pandemic personally? I’m working as a developer so it didn’t affect my work that much. I’m grateful that I have a job that I can do from home, which makes the whole situation easier and gives me the impression of normality.

What it did affect a lot are our travel plans - we had to cancel our trip to US and now we’re planning to spend our vacation in Scandinavia and visit Norway instead. What made me more sad is that my mom, who was planning to visit me in Sweden for the first time, had to cancel her trip and it seems that we won’t be able to go to Croatia and visit our family till fall, too.

But on a positive side, we’re all safe and healthy and that’s what matters! Once we see each other, we're going to appreciate it even more :)

Do you have friends or family who have been infected by the virus? One of my colleagues told me today that he and his girlfriend had corona. They are feeling good now, but they went through the rough 2 weeks. They are the first people I know in person that had the virus.

What has been the hardest thing for you to deal with? At first I was reading a lot of news, comparing numbers and measurements that other countries are taking, predictions for economic crisis, possible worst case scenarios, etc. I was also quite worried because Sweden was treating pandemic so much different than the rest of the world and we didn’t know if that experiment will go well or fail badly. Once I stopped following the news and focused only on local and official information I felt much better.

During the corona crisis, my hometown in Croatia was hit by an earthquake and that day was the worst for me since all this started. I was calling my family and friends and checking if everyone was okay. It was heartbreaking to see my hometown damaged and be away from my family in these hard times. The earthquake made the situation worse and increased the risk of the virus spread because in events like that people usually need physical contact and support from each other but in this case that human instinct had to be suppressed. Fortunately, there were no life casualties and the number of corona cases was not affected that much.

What have you appreciated during this period? We moved to a new apartment in November and we didn’t know a lot about our neighborhood. This situation made us start exploring around and we ended up discovering a beautiful old forest that is only a bike ride away from us. Since then I've been taking long walks or bike rides there and tried to spend as much time as the weather allows surrounded by nature. I believe that nature has the ability to calm us and give us comfort that we all need in times like this. Accessibility of nature is what I appreciate the most during this period.

What are you doing to keep yourself emotionally healthy during this time? Keeping away from the media made me emotionally healthier, but getting back to my old hobbies made me so much happier. When I’m not working or walking in the forest, I try to spend time painting, drawing, learning photography… Now when I have fewer distractions in my everyday life, I decided to spend my time on things that make me happy.

I also noticed that a lot of people are doing the same, it seems that we’re missing expressing ourselves in a creative way! For example, a few of my girlfriends bought sewing machines, a lot of my other friends are sharing their drawings or DIY projects they finished on social media. We inspire each other and that’s awesome!

What recommendations do you have for others: Limit the time you spend reading news, focus on doing things that make you happy, do something good for your body - go for a walk! And always, always wash your hands ;)

Thanks for joining us and sharing your experience, Martina.

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.