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Scared about what

cyanBlueberry1943 March 14th, 2020

We all know what this headline means. It's all over the news, it's all people talk about and I can't tell if it's over hyped or if it's actual reality.

with this happening in our world, we're being told to wash our hands more than ever, which I've always done anyway. My husband on the other hand, isn't so much. Even before we got married I would always have to remind him to wash his hands. There have been a few times where he'll get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and he won't wash his hands after (I'm a very light sleeper so I wake up very easily).
And now because of this pandemic, it's starting to give me anxiety. I constantly remind him, even more so now. It's to the point where if he's been out to a bar or comes home from work or a weekend away at his cabin, I don't even want him to touch me until I've actually seen him wash his hands.
and he just tells me I'm too paranoid. I mean no one wants to get sick. Why can't he just wash his damn hands.
Sometimes I even think, "if he unknowingly gets this virus and gives it to me and I pass it on to my parents who are older and god forbid something terrible happens since this affects older people the most, I'm going to be done with him. It would be his fault, he killed them because he couldnt take 20 seconds to wash his fucking hands".
I feel like this is making me crazy but I needed to let it out. Please tell me I'm overreacting and letting all this get to my head.

4
Applemint09 March 14th, 2020

@cyanBlueberry1943

hey, i know that the world could be pretty scary right now but you should take a deep breath and calm down. It's true that we should take precautions such as washing our hands frequently. what you're doing right now is completely normal. Nobody wants to get sick but i think you're overthinking. you should talk to your husband about it and try to negotiate with him. find a conclusion on what you guys should do. For example, both of you could agree to wash your hands or stay home more often. in my opinion, even though these things are happening, i wouldn't want to live in fear. so as long as im taking precautions, im sure that i'll be fine. However, different people have different perspectives. stay safe ❤️

Stoffel March 14th, 2020

@cyanBlueberry1943

You're definitely not overreacting and you're most certainly not the only one who feels this way.

My anxiety has gone through the roof in the past two weeks too. I have many susceptible family members with medical issues that aren't well off against the virus should they get it. But the government in my country is way too lackluster and slow about reinforcing any necessary steps to slow the spredding of it down. We're probably the slowest country in all of europe despite being one of the first countries to get the virus and being one with the highest numbers of infected people. All the government does is tell people that they have to decide for themselves what risky behavior they should do or not do. And thus our citizens are one of the top deniers of the actual threat that is covid-19. I work in a hotel (housekeeping, laundry and service) and the place is still hopping, especially with older people, and my boss won't even give us gloves or disinfectants. When I asked for those things or a briefing on things I was laughed at. My brother works there too at the reception, he had to call in sick a few days ago. Sore throat, caughing, fever, trouble breathing. We called our local doctor to have him tested, but having these symptoms and a high risk workplace isn't enough. He would have to prove that he was in contact with someone comming from a high risk area, which he can't because informations like that can't be given out by the hotel due to privacy laws. We heard about guests that have family and friends tested positive and co-workers that returned from high risk areas, but even telling them that isn't enough. Our closest hospital recently confessed to having over 60 cases already, and we have the first confirmed cases in our immediate area. Still the news and politicians play everything, and thus no one is concerned enough to follow the advice from health and pandemic experts, or from the countries that are already in lockdown with thousands of people dying. My "panicking" family estimated that by the end of the last week we would have 1000 cases. We ended up having 3000.

I get so mad at the people still joking about it, and they are many. They touch other people's faces and say "Hah! Now you have corona!" (and I'm not talking about children) and in my hotel I had someone throw dirty laundry at me after he found out that I am worried. They all tell me not to panic like that, but I'd rather "panic" and keep the people around me a bit more safe by following even just basic advice than to scoff at people worried about their elderly and chronically ill family members dying because of ignorant a-holes.

Insist on people washing their hands and remove yourself from those that won't. Your anxiety is more than valid.

Stay safe and best of luck 💛

optimisticBranch3514 March 14th, 2020

@cyanBlueberry1943 i totally understand your paranoia, i'm the same. My stepmother went out this morning to go to the hairdressers, although i begged her not to. it's easy to stay at home for two weeks, to see how things evolve. When you stay at home,dont come into contact with anyone, theres not a reason to panic... what i do right now is wash my hands, desinfect them, not hugging/touching any family members that are touched by others. I hope your boyfriend starts washing your hands because we can't help the world, but we can do little things to help ourselves. And if he doesnt wash his hands, you're totally right to not touch him. he has to learn the hard way then :) and if you have doubts about your parents, maybe talk to them and explain why you wont be close to them anymore maybe... i think its important to at the end of the day, just take a deep breath and make sure we don't panic, because calm makes us feel in control, and there's enough out of control in the world. If we take care of little things, big things are more likely to turn out well.

hope you can find some peaceful moments, take care

AffyAvo March 14th, 2020

@cyanBlueberry1943 I don't think you're being unreasonable with the handwashing thing. Would he be willing to compromise? Due to my illnesses, a long time ago I convinced my husband that he should wash his hands every time he came in from being out in public. It took reminding for a while, but he does it automatically for me. If you agree to not mention it to him other times and only remind him after coming in and before handling food?

Most organizations are requesting people to be washing their hands often now, and it helps everyone out to do this. I would hope he's willing to do it as lives really actually do depend on people washing their hands!