A thread for/about those who are sheltering completely alone, i.e. no other human beings with you

The Quarantine Zone
1

Pets, yes… or maybe no pets either? But no spouse, roommate, parent, child, no other person living (or most likely, visiting) in your home.

What is this like for you? Do you have any kind of self/other-imposed routine/schedule? What are you cooking/eating? How’s your sleep? Financial worries? Health worries besides CV)? How are you staying in touch and who are those people (in general)? What’s the hardest/easiest thing about this lockdown? Not meant to be a questionnaire-- just things I’m wondering about others in the same sitch as me.

For myself, no one has set foot in my house since the last visit of my house cleaner three weeks ago. TBH, she is just about the only one who does come in my house. I have no family at all. Thank God my 93-year old mother did not have to go through this.

My sleep is absolute crap. I often wake up at 3 or 4 and can’t get back to sleep. Had a bad night last night with disturbing anxiety-ridden coronavirus dreams. So I treated myself to the Breakfast of Champions: two ibuprofen and a xanax. :slight_smile: I feel okay now…

I get out of my nightgown and into (sort of) clothes-- sweats and a tee. No makeup, but I do wear earrings. I walk most mornings listening to audiobooks (The Water Dancer is THE BEST book I’ve ever listened to), and then make an espresso and sit down to peruse the interwebs and esp the SDMB. I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for many months, so I don’t think about lunch until eleven-ish. Low carbing, so no sandwiches, but I make soup, beans, have a few frozen things on hand. I’ve gotten a couple of grocery deliveries, and a friend brought several large, commercially frozen entrees last week. I was very touched. Someone else sent me a flower arrangement. :slight_smile:

I’m retired and thank God (and my late H) I have a modestly secure financial situation. I’m not “productive” and really don’t make any effort to be. I kind of piss away the rest of the day. Maybe that will change, but I’ve always been pretty lazy and very bad at setting goals for myself. I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m only “striving” for one thing: to be contented. I’ve been getting sleepy around 9:30, so no reason not to go to bed-- and at least even if I get up early, I’ve gotten a few hours of (restless) sleep. I use sleep apps to help me get to sleep-- Headspace and Calm-- and I do a meditation from one of those as soon as I wake up and before bed, too. Both apps have “bedtime stories” to help you drift off-- they’re fairly aimless narratives that sooth without engaging. A recent one added to Calm is “British Shipping Forecast,” which is a guy reading from a roster of ships and their destinations. Another one on Calm explains the rules of cricket. Seriously. Calm has one of Bob Ross (of blessed memory) for those who always found his voice sleep-inducing. But I digress…

I have two cats and a dog, and I live in a major dog-walking neighborhood. So when I walk Sweetie, I always see other dog-walkers. We give each other a wide berth and wave and shout good wishes from half-a-block away.

I’m Jewish but I also sing in an Episcopal church choir. To go through Easter without choir and Passover alone-- yikes! I always light my Shabbat candles-- never fail. Don’t know what I’m going to do about Passover…

How about you other live-aloners? How are you doing?

2

I’ve been working at home, which I think has been good for my mental wellness. Not only because I don’t have to worry about the tedium of getting “presentable”, but I can surround myself with comforting things while I work. Good music, cozy lighting and climate control, and cat companionship. I start the day off with an energetic hike in the woods (or sometimes a not-so-energetic stroll around the neighborhood) that shakes off all the residual anxieties from the night before (my dreams have been intense lately…no corn fields yet, though). Once I sit down in front of my computer, I’m in the mindset of being productive and staying on task (she says as she dicks around on the SDMB!)

To be honest, all of this appeals to my reclusive nature . I think I’d be in a sour mood if I were locked in with another person. I miss being able to go to the thrift store up the street on the weekends, and I miss the hot bar at Whole Foods. But if you exclude all the sadness and fear happening in the background, the upsides of the lockdown have outweighed the downsides for me.

Every day I give myself something to look forward to. Like, I will be planting my zinnias this evening. Later on this week, I am expecting a wall hanging to arrive in the mail so that I can beautify my metal shed (a good Samaritan removed all the ivy that was covering the side facing the alley, so I’m going to show my gratitude by covering it in artwork). I’m not a good cook, but I try to make myself dishes that I know I will love (no experimental stuff for me!) And I shower my cat and houseplants with lots of love and care. I also dance and sing a lot since no one is around to judge me. Doing so makes me happy.

I also text and talk to people on the phone. I reach out to coworkers through IM, and I talk to my parents weekly (whereas before all of this I would reach out to them once a month).

I am very fortunate to not have to worry about financial stuff at this time. No job is absolutely secure, but I do enjoy some security. I also have a decent amount of savings. I would be a nervous wreck right now if I had to worry about money.

3

I live alone. My dog passed in August so it’s just me now. I really miss her. :frowning:

I’m doing okay, though. I speak and text with family members regularly. I’m a teacher and an introvert, so typically I would come home from work socially fatigued and the solitude of my house was quite welcome. During normal summer breaks, I often go weeks without much face-to-face social interaction. To steal a line I saw elsewhere, I feel like I’ve been preparing for this situation my whole life. :smiley:

Our school has been closed for a month now, and will likely not reopen before summer break. We are doing online instruction, of a sort, but it’s a much-reduced workload from what I’m used to. So I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. Been watching a lot of TV, playing some video games, spending too much time on the internet.

I’ve only left the house twice in the past few weeks. I probably won’t need to leave again for a while, except to pick up a prescription in a couple of weeks.

My sleep schedule is all messed up, too. I keep trying to get back to a routine, but no success yet.

I really need to do some yard work, but it’s been raining here every couple of days and my yard needs a few days to dry out or the mower will bog down. Looks like I might get a chance to do it this week.

Also looking forward to cutting my own hair at some point. If I mess up I can just shave it all off. I may just go ahead and do that anyway.

My biggest personal worries in all this are for my parents, who are elderly and in high-risk categories, and my siblings, who are thankfully still employed but that could change any day.

4

I’ve been working from home since March 12th. Just me here and the cats. Maryland’s been locked-down since the beginning of the month, with no unnecessary driving.

I have jammies for my work-from-home days, which is every weekday now, and only get dressed if I’m going out for supplies, maybe once a week. Aside from that and a couple of food deliveries I don’t suppose I’ve spoken to another person in person. I do phone conferences with co-workers most days, and talk to or text my mother regularly, and I’ve been on the phone to my doctor a couple of times since I had some strange aches in my lower chest (which seem to be stress related than anything to do with my lungs; I’m breathing fine). Since I’m still working full hours during the weeks, I don’t have a lot of nothing-to-do time, but I’ve been binge-watching a lot of TV while I work. I’m sleeping in a little bit later than usual, since I don’t have to go farther than downstairs to go to work, but I’m not staying up later than I used to. Like Thelma Lou, I’ve woken up in the early hours of the morning a couple of times, and wasn’t able to get back to sleep before daybreak when all the birds start chirping outside the windows.

It feels less closed in if it’s warm enough out to have the windows open and a breeze coming through the house. On nice days, I go out to stand in my tiny, fenced-in front yard for a while to get out of the house. There are things I was planning to do to fix up the yard this spring, but I’d have to go out to buy paint, flowers, etc, and that’s just not doable right now.

5

I have no job. My church gave me some toilet paper, I play cards by myself. When I want Dunkin, my neighbor down the block has to drive me cause I can’t walk in and he just got over bronchitis. No I am not making him, he was bad to go out. I go on dope and facebook. That’s it. ������

6

I’m not alone (husband, son, housemate who rents the basement) but popping in to suggest that anyone who is in such a position have a way to check in somewhere on a daily(ish) basis - just so someone knows to look for you if you do get sick or are otherwise incommunicado.

7

I agree this is important. I have a handful of people with whom I exchange texts every day-- all of them singles, too.

8

I live alone with my 2 dogs. I do keep in touch with my sister and my father regularly. Things aren’t too bad for routine wise. I am generally keeping a regular sleep pattern. I have most everything I need right now, but it is something that bothers me- knowing that a quick trip to the grocery store is not quick or easy at the moment.

I find that I am also worrying about strange things. For instance, I’ve been eating a lot of popcorn in the last week. I have enough kernels to last a year or so at my current rate of consumption. However, I am low on oil for actually popping it. I’ve now ordered too much coconut oil…:rolleyes:

I must say that having a backlog of video games and movies helps. Still I miss going out for lunch or to the pub to grab a pint.

9

OMG! Me, too! I am eating popcorn like there’s no tomorrow (and there may very well not be). I’m sitting here at 11:45 in the morning asking myself, “Is it too early for popcorn?” the way I used to wonder, “Is it too early for Jack Daniel’s?” :smiley: But if I make some now, then at 3:00 this afternoon (which is my regular popcorn time), I’ll want some more, and is it too much to make popcorn twice in the same day? Just like I used to be with booze in My Drinking Days… This is probably a hazard of having no one on the premises to talk to. But the upside to that is I don’t have to share my popcorn! :stuck_out_tongue:

10

The doggies love popcorn. I do have to share it with them.

11

I have refrained from sharing with my dog Sweetie. BTW, I gave in and made some popcorn after I read your post. :stuck_out_tongue: When 3:00 rolls around will I be able to resist making some more?

One thing that keeps me from overindulging in snacks is (1) I just can’t keep any really good snacks* in the house, (2) it’s problematic to replenish your supplies of anything these days.

  • Like Ruffles sour cream & onion potato chips.
12

It’s been great, frankly. My sole companion is a cat. I have been working on a regular schedule, with surprisingly little disruption in my productivity.

My overall schedule hasn’t changed at all. I still go to sleep and wake up at the same hours, still take a shower in the morning and get dressed. I try to eat meals at regular times, though I’m less consistent there (just my nature–work imposed a pattern because the cafeteria was only open at certain times).

I have a Dungeons and Dragons game going over Skype, which I had already been doing since my gaming friends are remote. But now they’re all remote from each other as well, and so there’s less of an odd man out feeling and everyone is communicating better.

Simple tasks like cleaning the kitchen are easier now–instead of doing it at the end of the day when I’m tired or waiting until the weekend, I can interleave it with work-work and get something done when I need a break. It actually works really well interleaving menial tasks with intellectual ones; each is a break from the other.

Most likely, I will start working from home part time even after this is over. It’s always been an option, but I had doubt about how well it was going to work. I know now that it’s not a problem and has significant advantages.

I’m very lucky in that my financial situation is solid, I have a strong family and friend network, and that I’m naturally introverted. So I try not to take too much joy in the current situation, but I also can’t deny that things are feeling pretty good for me personally.

13

Only mildly different than my regular routine honestly.

Just me and two cats at home, but I have some retired family no more than a quarter mile away that have been nice enough to pick up stuff for me at Costco and leave it in front of my door - reduces trips out. I’m working light hours every other week, but getting paid the same so zero financial stress. I’m a skilled worker in a ‘critical services’ type job, so my workplace has gone to paid skeleton staffing to try to reduce exposure.

I am quite obviously cooking a whole lot more and getting takeout a lot less, though I have tried to support my local restaurants at least a little. I’m used to doing many small grocery trips during the week and that is another things that has also obviously gone by the wayside. I probably have more food stuffed in my fridge and freezer than in any point in the last ten years. I really hate wearing masks, but I have an old, little-used p95 I picked back in the local Camp-Fire-smoke shrouded days that I’ve started tolerating to be a good citizen while on shopping excursions.

So I’m still working, financially stable, feel fine, and nobody I know real well has been seriously ill yet. Also I’m a natural loner, a fatalist and not particularly prone to anxiety generally. So stress has not been a significant issue - yet. Mostly I while away the hours surfing the net, playing computer games( feeling very retro with Pathfinder Kingmaker right now ), watching the tube and occasionally reading( Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100-1250 ). When it isn’t raining I try and get a little air around my condo complex/adjacent park and amuse myself with my very amateurish bird photography( lesser goldfinches, house finches, hermit thrushes, northern mockingbirds, bewick’s wrens, and anna’s and allen’s hummingbirds the other day ).

All in all things are going fine for me. Which makes me feel only a little better as I watch the partial disintegration and panic all around.

14

I live alone and work from home already so it’s no skin off my nose. I’ve got 2 dogs, who don’t care about this virus thing. They want to walk every day just like usual!

I’ve done 3 group video calls, two with friends and one with my cousins. I have also had 3 video tai chi classes with my instructor, live, and did one night of kickboxing lessons from videos he uploaded to YouTube.

I’ve gone grocery shopping once a week every week for my parents and myself. Mostly for my parents. They seem to eat a lot! I just eat cereal and sandwiches.

Anyway, nothing’s really changed. I’m alone all the time anyway. I kinda wish I didn’t have to work so I could be chillin’ with everyone else who’s on the couch watching tv but I’m glad I’m working, as I’m my only source of income!

15

I live alone, but I do have my cats.

I’ll often work from home, so in some ways, it’s not unusual for me to spend days working on my computer, making and getting phone calls, and so on. I’ll also meet clients when and where necessary.

In other ways, things are very unusual. Often, at the end of the business day, and especially after spending the day working from home, I need some face-to-face time with others. So, I’ll often head down to the local sports bar, where I can have a couple of beers, watch a game on TV, and BS with the other regulars. On weekends, I might head for the local race book, where I can wager on horse races from various North American tracks. But now, the sports bar is closed, the race book is closed, and pretty much everywhere else I might want to go to is closed, and I have nowhere to go.

My world has become small. The weather is a factor; winter is just dragging on here, and while spring is definitely on its way, we had snow last week, and there is more snow in the long-term forecast. That’s preventing me from getting started on the yardwork. I do try to get out for a walk in the local park, which helps; but I’d really like to get my bike out for a ride and I’d like to practice my golf swing in the back yard, although the snow is preventing those activities for now. All in good time though–I just have to be patient.

A local friend is calling me on the phone every few days just to make sure that I’m okay. We have a good chat, and even though it is not face-to-face, it is nice to speak with somebody. I sometimes call my sister in another city also–more often than I normally would, so we’re in better touch, and that’s a good thing.

16

I’ve worked from home for 22 years, so this is more of the same. I have a son in college, but we just check in once or twice a week. That said it’s just so weird how much cooking I’m doing now since I don’t want to go out more than once a week, so I’m getting creative there rather than my usual sustenance of weight watchers frozen dinners. And I’m probably gaining weight because of it. My usual exercise was to hit the state beach 1/2 a mile from here, there’s a paved path that’s about 1/2 mile long so I’d walk it round trip. But now they’ve closed the parks to vehicle access, so I manage to hit a different entry point to that same beach a but I’ll admit I’m not doing it as often as I should.

Meanwhile I woke up this morning with a horridly upset tummy and chills. It’s 73F in my office and I’ve freaking freezing! Ugh, hopefully a 1 day thing and not, well, you know. :expressionless:

17

Hope you’re OK, squeegee! and can you make sure somebody will check in with you every day while you’re feeling crappy?

The main difference in my life to this point, in practice, is that all those meetings and non-urgent medical appointments I had to go to have disappeared (though I had to pull off a farmers’ market meeting by calling everybody up individually on the phone, which took longer from my point of view than our usual dinner meeting and was less fun.) My schedule’s always somewhat erratic, being somewhat controlled by the weather. Most of my work is at home and I often cheerfully go several days without talking to anybody in person. And usually when I can manage to pull off a stretch of a week or so when I don’t have to go anywhere that makes me happy –

but more than a week or so is another matter. And not having to go anywhere and not being able to go anywhere are not the same thing, and don’t feel like the same thing. So I’m kind of in this odd mix of being relieved at not having to go anywhere and being antsy at not being able to go anywhere. And then even antsier when I really do have to go somewhere and can’t avoid it.

And I have a very good friend coming over to pick something up, and I can’t hug her. That’s not fun. I’m not going to even have her into the house for tea, we’re just going to talk out in the fields carefully staying more than six feet apart.

There are however four cats. So a need to hug doesn’t go entirely unsatisfied.

18

Not much different than when I go a couple/few weeks between gigs, to be honest.

Not really. I do try and eat dinner and go to bed at the same time, but for me that means “within this 2-3 hour window”.

I’m slowly gaining weight because I’m fully engaged with cooking 7 days a week now. When I work, I typically work anywhere from 10-16 hours, so I don’t do much fancy cooking. Now it’s a new tikka masala or a new korma curry or a new butter masala or tossed gnocchi dish every day. I’m a fairly good cook and I like food, so I tend to eat a bit more than I should right now.

Pretty good most nights. I prolly get up early one day a week (say, 4am instead of 6am) but I also sleep in more than normal too (7am or 8am instead of 6am). I also really really enjoy napping, so I’m not hurting for sleep.

Meh. I’m okay for now. September might be a problem if this keeps up, tho.

Nope. Got plenty of BP meds.

I text every day with family and friends and co-workers and union brothers & sisters; I have prolly 20 people that I’m in contact with regularly.

Easiest thing is staying home: I love my house because I’ve filled it with things I like and like doing. I have multiple guitars, a couple of bass guitars, a drum kit, a saxophone, various tribal drums and percussion instruments, etc. I’ve also been able to play Rocket League to my hearts content.

And I’ve been able to research a bunch of stuff and still keep up with the Covid-19 news; I like doing that kind of thing.

The hardest thing is reading the news and seeing just how fucking stupid and hateful some people are being, but that happens every day anyway. :smiley:

Oh and my cats Tina & Leon (aye: they’re siblings) are stoked that I’m around to brush and pet and play with them.

19

Working from home, now starting week 3. Software, so easy to work from home.
Skype meeting with the team every morning. Goes for about 15 minutes. Skype other colleagues as needed, maybe one or two times a week.
Cat for company. Critter is pretty good. Mostly says off the keyboard and comes to snuggle up at bedtime.
I get out about every second day to get stuff. Try to keep one of my favourite local Cafés going by ordering a takeaway lunch and coffee every couple of days and driving out to pick it up.
Keep a daily routine. Get up, get dressed, don’t work in pyjamas. Worried about putting on weight, but have started to exercise more. Trying for 30 minutes a day on the rowing machine.
Working long hours, because there is not much else to do.
Far too obsessed with the virus as it plays out across the world.
Slowly going stir crazy.

20

It’s just me and some tropical fish that barely notice I exist here. I’ve had to work from home since 3/17 and I haven’t been any farther than the mailbox in 15 days.

What is this like for you?

I’m really tired of this. And I get angry every time I see pics/videos of people who are not in the least taking this seriously. I have mild asthma but that’s not a serious risk factor so I’m primarily staying home to keep others safe.

Do you have any kind of self/other-imposed routine/schedule?
Still working 8-4:30, so yeah

How’s your sleep?
Ok. I’m sleeping more, mostly because I’m not driving two hours a day

Financial worries?
Nope

Health worries besides CV)?
Not particularly. Allergy symptoms ebb and flo, and I’m keeping up with the PT exercises while the rehab center is closed

How are you staying in touch and who are those people (in general)?
Texts, emails, and we do a virtual lunch over zoom every day

What’s the hardest/easiest thing about this lockdown?
I really, really don’t like not being able to just go out and shop and visit friends. It’s been very quiet since my dad and the cat died but it was more bearable before the lockdown. The fact that there is no end in sight to all of this is depressing. There is no easiest thing.