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stress relief
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2022-05-25
Iko the Smooth Coated Collie
When the pandemic hit, there wasn't a lot going on in my house. I was living at home, working where I could/when I could (nannying, dog walking) and my parents had recently retired. My parents quickly turned into stereotypical teenagers, spending all day on their phones and iPad, scrolling through Facebook and playing card games electronically. My mom got sucked into a few dog groups on Facebook as she had always wanted a dog in retirement and to train this dog to be a therapy animal. It was her dream to take this dog to schools, hospitals, and nursing homes and provide much needed stress relief and other benefits that therapy animals provided. When I was a kid, we had a smooth collie name Stormy and he was a great family pet. When he passed away when I was in high school, my parents agreed to not get another dog until retirement (mostly my dad's request, my mom could have dogs all her life if it were up to her). Then COVID and there was nothing for my mom to do besides look at dogs on Facebook, specifically smooth collies. After much discussion and pleading by my mom and probably sheer boredom by my dad, my parents decided to get a puppy from Kentucky in July. We named this little one Iko and he came home rambunctious as ever. This brought a host of new senses into the house. First was the sound. Iko was never a big barker, but he did bark as most dogs do. I never saw this as a bad thing. Prior to Iko, there was no lively activity or accompanying noise. Also came the smells of a new dog. Miraculously, Iko came potty trained at 8 weeks (over achieving puppy from the start) but Iko had lots of hair and stirred up a lot of dust, thus making the house smell more like a dog kennel than our house before that was pretty clean (because there wasn't anything else to do during COVID besides clean). The final, and my favorite, sense that Iko brought into the house was the unconditional affection. With a new dog in the house, there were constant pets and puppy kisses which added a huge sensory stress relief to what was going on outside in the world around us. Iko Brough so many senses and such life into our home. He brought the youth out in my retired parents who go on long hikes with him out in the mountains of Utah now. Iko, the smooth coated collie, saved our COVID. -
2022
Teacher Burnout is Real
826 National is a non-profit organization focused on helping students with their writing skills. In this post, they highlight statistics related to teacher burnout and stress during the second year of the pandemic. One of the most alarming statistics is that 90% of teachers that participated say that teacher burnout is a serious issue. The pandemic has exacerbated the stress put on educators and they have received little support in return. -
2020-04-25
How it started... How it's going
So many things about the pandemic has been (and continues to be) traumatizing and negative and irritating. But looking back through my phone I saw a photo from the first puzzle I did in April 2020, and then the first photo of our Pandemic Pet, Sunny, from October of that year. So, instead of focusing on the disruptions, today I will focus on two good things from the pandemic. Putting together puzzles has been a fun, stress-relieving activity for me, and I continue to have a puzzle going on our rarely used table even if our lives are back to full busy mode. So that is a hobby I picked up during the pandemic that I can see continuing long into the future. Also, the kitty has brought fun and cuddles to our family, and we all love her (except, perhaps, the dog). Getting a cat was not on our radar until we were locked down and sad. So, for now, I am thankful for puzzles and kitties. -
2021-02-07
Brussel Sprout Failure
I have been growing Brussel Sprouts for a few years now. I love growing, eating, and cooking with them! I was looking forward to my harvest of Brussel Sprouts during the 2020 season, especially with the Covid lockdowns and all of the stress involved. It was terrible to see that pests ruined all of my Brussel Sprouts plants so I had none. It was the biggest failure of my garden this year and was made all the more disappointing with the Covid situation going on. Here's to the 2021 season and hoping that I can harvest delicious sprouts! -
2021-01-22
anime v kdrama race in quarantine
staying at home made me binge more dramas and animes. they help with de-stressing from school and it's really entertaining. my friends and I would anticipate every week for the newly released episodes of "the promised neverland", "true beauty", "jujutsu kaisen" and many more... i think these shows became the symbol of my quarantine because they make this whole chaos a little more fun. I get to have this little getaway from reality every time I get into these shows that are so unlike reality. i started to listen to the korean boy-band ASTRO because of cha eun-woo and that resulted in stanning other boy-bands, I find it more unique than our American pop songs. even though i enjoy staying at home, i hope our journey of " 6 feet apart" ends soon because i think seeing familiar faces at school motivates me to work harder in school :)) -
2020-02-14
The End to my High School Track Career
It was Valentines Day this year and I just got out of school and was prepped for my last race for my high school track season indoors. I was shocked that my coach gave my teammates and I the opportunity to run at Reggie one last time as we were barely qualified to run the 4x800. Distance running wasn’t something that I could describe as being experienced in however I was deeply invested in the sport as my diet, my routine and how I functioned daily was a mere resultant of it being in my life. At the time I knew a little about COVID seeing how it began to affect New York the most and how Massachusetts has seen a couple sightings of it as well starting to see some cases arise in the Boston area and throughout the state in general. Once my team got to Boston, the meet shortly started and I knew that I had a couple hours to chill around and get myself into the mindset of running well and quickly in my event. I finished my homework and I proceeded to look around the center with my friends just chatting and laughing like normal teenagers would do to pass the time. I got to see one of my best friends beat his personal best in the 1000 meter by large chunks of seconds and I knew that this would be the start of a positive day in the realm of Tewksbury running. My other best friend was able to run under 10 minutes in the 2 mile as he was qualified to get a medal for beating out the last Billerica kid that was in his way(in Track, there was some tension between my town and Billerica due to the proximity of the towns and the competition that they had). After bolstering enough energy to yell at them, I got my opportunity to run. Even though my race was short lived and I was put in a negative mindset for how poor I ran the race and wasn’t happy with my time, I was able to goof off and hype up my other teammates who absolutely killed it in their races. The sad part of it all was how I told myself that in spring I would be able to crush my current personal best in the 800 meter with ease by training. Too bad I wasn’t informed then that my highschool career for track ended there. In April, I reached out to the coach of Suffolk University to talk about my passion for the sport and how I wanted to continue my journey in improving my ability to race hard. Once I heard back from him and got the “ok”, I was pumped and excited because now I know that I can train my heart out for a sport that I love and see myself grow slowly over time. Some of the positives though were short lived as it hit me like a truck when I found out that I had posterior tibial tendonitis in my left ankle. At first glance, an injury such as this seems measly small and could be healed with proper assistance due to icing and stretching but this is my second time getting this type of tendonitis in the same ankle and it took me a little over two months to heal before running again. An added wound to this scar was the fact that I couldn’t cross train in some sort of practice area where I normally can be injured with having the comfort of other individuals surrounding me to forget that I ever got injured in the first place. Running by yourself is a mental obstacle for runners during the pandemic as they need to adapt to now mainly listening to their own footsteps. Being injured at home left me with the image that my teammates are progressing through the summer making the best of this situation and improving as distance runners while I had to chill at home and maybe substitute my daily run for a little more strength. A constant seventy days of that took a toll out of me as that was really the one excuse I can tell my parents to let me get out of the house for a bit. During quarantine and my time off, all I wanted was to goof off again with my friends as we question certain people who may be looking at us funny when we run or decide to run in the trails with nearly getting ourselves hurt. The copious amount of games of spikeball after a practice and the dinners right after runs were drilling right through my mind as the months of May through early July hit. Running is a great stress reliever for me and with the addition of being around people who adore the sport as much as myself, it feels like a second home that I could be myself and be able to progress well in. It made me look back on this Valentines Day and repeat to myself that I took some things for granted which were my passion for the sport in the atmosphere of having other people who love it as much as me and the time spent in general. -
2020-04-05
Coloring Sheet
Coloring has been therapeutic during COVID-19. Charlotte, NC-based artist Stephen Wilson distributed a coloring book over email and social media to encourage everyone during this time. -
2020-03-14
Quarantined Italians Sing Together from Balconies
Before the Coronavirus came to the United States, all eyes were on Italy. They had the highest death rate ever and they were all in a very strict quarantine. They were able to release the stress of being cooped up in their small apartments by singing together while standing on their balconies. Some would play violins, accordions, or tambourines, while others sang. They all joined in and it was quite a unique experience, and the videos went viral. -
2020-03-21
Dog Days During the Coronavirus
This image depicts my dog, Jon Jon, laying on my lap at our home. He has been confused but happy now that we are home all day every day. He does not realize that anything is amiss, he is simply happy his humans are home to spend time with. He serves as a direct contrast to the panic that we humans are feeling in the midst of the pandemic.