Isolation starting to become too much

A friend said to me the other day that we need social interaction right now, for the simple fact that we need to be expressing our emotions.

I have been having a really hard time sleeping lately, have daily bouts of intense anxiety, and get easily frustrated and am quick to get angry.

I'm working from home and my spouse is off work. I haven't seen my family since the five-minute front yard visit on Christmas Eve and virtual chats aren't the same as face-to-face. I'm not at work chit-chatting daily with my coworkers, laughing, talking or commiserating about things in their lives.

We are holding a lot of emotions inside right now, good and bad. The result, for me anyway, is very poor mental health. I'm struggling.

Daily case counts are declining. I am really hoping for an end to stay-at-home orders before I need to get back on some anxiety medications. I'm tired. I'm bored. I miss my family.

Add to this a struggle for my spouse to get his employment insurance in place due to an input error while applying, sitting on hold for an hour and a half, then being told the only thing we can do is provide a document we don't have, and the stress just becomes almost too much.

Something's got to give. We need our freedom and our social lives back. People need their churches back. I need the gym back.

Mental health struggles are rising. We can talk and talk, but something needs to actually happen.

Shari Richard, Windsor