My COVID 19 Related Insanity Has Some Unpredicted Positives for the Medium Community

It’s not all bad with regards to giving me ways to support other Medium writers

I must have started 100 articles since I came down with the virus, not one of which I have managed to finish. Every so often, I return to one, only to fall asleep before reading the few lines I managed to pen before falling asleep. This virus is nothing if not circular in nature. No loss as had I not fallen asleep, I would have forgotten what I’d been writing about somewhere around the third or fourth sentence anyway.

It’s fine though, because I suspect if, when I’m back in my right mind, I decide to read anything I wrote during these unusual times, I would likely conclude that I’d been taken over by the spirit of one of the Marx brothers, probably Harpo since I live alone and go much of the day without saying a word to anyone.

The allusion to the Marx brothers is not an accidental one. This virus and accompanying fever has taken a turn into the bizarre and gleefully insane land inhabited by cartoon characters during their off hours. It is a time when furniture goes dancing across the room like something from Fantasia and large pink and purple hippos do Waltz of the Flowers on the ceiling.

This is a definite improvement over the first days when I finally had to stop denying that I was sick and became very resentful of all those idiots who were running around partying as if the whole world had been given an extended vacation instead of battling a deadly virus. Then I spent my days yelling out the window at the groups congregating on the beach behind my building. This usually was a variation of, “What’s the matter with you people? Are you trying to kill us all?”

When they ignored me I would threaten to call the cops, telling them they’d all be carted away to jail and charged with attempted murder or maybe bio-terrorism. When they ignored these threats, I tried a different tact consisting of, “You know the Chicago mob still exists right? Maybe I should give them a call and see how happy they are about you putting their lives at risk!”

They were equally unimpressed by this suggestion. By then I was out of breath anyway and needed to go lie down to gather my strength for another assault.

Now though, things have relaxed into, if not reassurance, at least predictability. My living area has shrunk to my bedroom, and though I am a bit better, I don’t really move from my bed except to get something to eat or use the bathroom. I don’t really need to get up otherwise, since during the first weeks when I couldn’t count on being strong enough to make trips into other rooms to retrieve something I wanted, I moved everything into bed with me.

This included all my nightgowns, summer and winter as I alternate between being hot and cold, a couple of robes which serve as my daytime attire, several pairs of socks and unmentionables, my phone, my computer, a floppy eared stuffed bunny that a friend gave me before I moved, a little teddy bear holding a heart that another friend gave me before I moved to the place I’d moved before moving here (see what I mean about being able to express myself clearly?), the DSM 5 for all the psychology articles I would be writing as I convalesced (ha!), a couple of crafting activities I saw on YouTube that seemed to make sense until I tried to actually do them, some articles that I had no idea why I’d wanted them but left them on the bed since there must have been a reason and I’d remember it any time now, and a crochet project with three rows done that I thought I could complete one day at the beginning when I convinced myself, “This isn’t so bad. I think they’re making more out of this virus than they need to.”

A word to the wise — Never, ever let yourself think things like this when encountering difficult life circumstances. It’s bound to come back and bite you in the butt!

But even with all of the negatives associated with being sick, I’ve come to realize there are some positives as well. These have to do with the good that has resulted with regards to the support I’ve been able to provide other Medium writers, even if it’s not always conscious. Here are some of the benefits that have resulted.

1. Since I fall asleep in the middle of reading articles, they get left open indefinitely giving you hours of extra read time which translates into lots more money.
2. Related to number 1, I forget what I read from one minute to the next. This means I can re-read articles dozens of times without any memory of having ever seen them before. This also gives you tons of extra reading time.
3. The fever, stress and exhaustion has made me a bit loopy which seems to result in a sense of euphoria. This leads me to absolutely love everything I read. I will let you know this through lengthy, enthusiastic over the top positive comments that include words and phrases like “genius”, “splendiferous,” “Maya Angelou, Robert Haas and Joseph Brodsky all rolled up into one”, and “the second coming of Hemingway”.
4. With my mind not really working in the most logical manner, I can’t really write much in terms of new content of my own, but related to the previous point, I will happily promote your content all over the place every waking moment. This may include putting up flyers around my apartment building (no one is leaving their apartments and I promise I just run out slap a copy on the wall and run back in laughing giddily), and leaving flyers for the people that deliver my food folded with a message printed on the outside that says, “To my loyal friend in appreciation for your service. You’ll DEFINITELY want to read this one written by someone who will be world famous by the end of the week!”
5. While my daytime hours are spent in a state somewhere between sleep and waking, due to the anxiety, I cannot sleep at night. Tossing and turning just makes the worry worse, so I have to find something to do. These hours are spent alternating between Netflix, playing Lily’s Garden and Candy Crush and reading your stories on Medium. This means that while your stats may not not look as good as you’d like when you go to bed, when you get up they’ll be through the roof (see points 1- 4 above).

So, don’t worry about how I’m doing with the virus. I may not currently be productive in my own right, but just knowing that my COVID-19 related craziness is giving me a chance to help out the Medium community, makes all the difference in the world! Stay healthy, stay happy,and please, whatever you do, stay indoors, my friends!

Natale C. Frank has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and enjoys writing articles on coping with difficult medical situations, which she has learnt a great deal about first hand as she’s been recovering from COVID-19. She is an editor for The Partnered Pen & One Table, One World and is Editor in Chief for Promposity & Mental Gecko, both of which she created. She is also the Managing Editor for Novellas and Serials at LVP Publications. Her collection of poetry, Disguised I Breathe, In Love I Hold, can be found here on Amazon.

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