“Here I am today, shaken and crying. I’m not scared of this virus. I’m angry. Every day I set foot in the ER, there’s a high risk of contamination, injury, and possibly death because of lack of masks, gloves. Yet, without a second thought, I will always choose to risk my life to save someone else’s. That makes me extremely sad for my children. I hate that I’ve put them in this situation.”
‘I just spent 30 minutes under the hotest water, crying in the shower out of fear so I don’t scare my family.’: Nurse urges ‘our lives are just as important as the ones lying on the stretchers’
‘This virus will spread and turn awful.’ I didn’t want him to see me cry. He pulled me to him. I covered his shirt with tears.’: Covid-19 forces college student to leave school, boyfriend, ‘The two things I craved most were taken from me’
“We both confessed our love for each other. It was so cute. Every time I think about it, it just makes me happy. Then, boom! Coronavirus shows up and changes everything. I felt as though I had started loving someone for no reason. I was emotionally drained. It hurts me daily.”
‘My ex sat me down on the couch and said, ‘I will never be able to love you for the way you look.’ He stood up and left, forever.’: Woman describes her journey to ‘love myself fully again’
“That day broke me. Not because my boyfriend left, not because of the things he said. But because in one moment, I lost the dearest, most precious thing any of us have – I lost myself. I moved cities, countries, and even continents. It’s been 3 months and 3 years since he took my love away.”
‘I keep hearing, ‘Stop complaining, this is what you signed up for.’ We did not sign on to care of others without being properly protected ourselves.’: Nurse urges ‘understand the risks we’re taking against this illness’
“Telling a nurse who is showing up for work every day, bravely walking into a COVID-19 rule out room without proper protection, is the equivalent to telling a police officer they signed up to be an officer without a bullet proof vest and gun, a firefighter they signed up to combat fire without water, or a solider they signed up to go to war without weapon.”
‘I cried in my car for an hour today. I think, ‘I have NO idea why I became a nurse.’ I am dispensable…just a number on payroll EASILY replaced.’: Nurse says ‘remember no one’s out here taking care of me’
“I’ve been up since 3 in the morning. I was tired, and then got yelled at first thing. No matter how hard you work…how many hours you put in…it never seems to be enough. And it hurts. Today, I really can’t tell you why I’m a nurse.”
‘People look at our elderly and tell themselves ‘it was their time’ when they leave this earth. I’m shocked and flabbergasted.’: Woman working in nursing home says ‘These are PEOPLE! Please stay home’
“I sit here, in my nursing home in New York on quarantine day whatever, appalled that so many healthy Americans are treating this virus like a joke. You have Facebook memes, play dates. You say media and politics have driven hysteria. It’s my people, my geriatrics, my immunocompromised. A group of people that have made way more sacrifices then I know I have.”
‘I was talking to a man who asked, ‘Do you think women can have it all? You know, the whole shebang.’ He was shocked by my answer.’: Woman says ‘take time for what makes you happy’
“I tried so hard to have it all. I thought I could raise my boys, be a great wife, have a clean home, be a productive employee, exercise 5 days a week, get enough sleep, drink water, and maintain a flawless manicure. But I was wrong. I couldn’t do it all. At least not all at once.”
‘I went from trying to plan a visit to our son’s birth mom in prison, to reassuring her, ‘Everything will be okay.’ She is still a mom. And she’s hurting.’: Foster mom reminds us not to forget about those in prison, ‘A hard life just got harder’
“‘Is it really that bad out there?’ t’s not a population we think of to feel ‘sorry’ for. 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have worried about our incarcerated population during this time. In fact, I would’ve assumed it was for the best. Everything changed when I took the time to reach out and get to know someone different than me.”
‘I wanted pretty boobies, whatever that meant. I was ‘large’ and gravity became my enemy.’: Woman urges ‘do what you need to in this life’ after breast augmentation
“I couldn’t wear the cute sundresses like my girlfriends. I couldn’t wear sexy lingerie or bikinis…they just sagged. Yeah, I said it…sagged. I made a decision that I wanted to get a boob job. I wanted ‘pretty’ boobies, whatever that meant.”
‘If your friends on social media are spreading negativity, unfollow them. If the news makes you feel bad. STOP watching it.’: Woman says ‘I’m choosing not to marinate in fear during this time’
“Let’s be real, some people live for the drama, gossip, and to whine and complain. Choose to continue living. I may not have control over a lot of what’s going on in the world, but I do have control over what’s going on in MY world.”
‘My friends have children that are dying. 8 separate friends received devastating news this week, and they’re waiting for the inevitable.’: Woman urges ‘find your suffering friends and show them they are seen’
“We’re separated by a glass wall — those who can see the suffering but don’t know what to do with it are on one side. Grief is on the other side. Take a sledgehammer to that glass wall. Find the people who are scared. Find the friends who are depressed, the person overwrought with terrible grief. Show them they are seen and they are worthy.”
‘We’re gonna get you cleaned up.’ It was time to turn off her machine. My husband leaned in to hug them, tears streaming down his face.’: Woman thanks nurses, doctors for their ‘selflessness’ during daughter’s final moments
“There were three nurses for my daughter 24 hours a day. When the time came for us to turn off the machine, the nurses braided her hair and put a blue bow in it. Never once did they act like we were bothering them. They watched us come in, crying over her, knowing these would be the last moments we would have with our baby girl.”
‘Why bother with contraception? You’ll never have children anyway.’ I wanted to give up.’: Young woman overcomes depression from PCOS, acne, ‘I keep blooming every day’
“I remember the distress I felt. ‘Why is my hard work not paying off?’ I just wanted to give up and hide from the world. I thought I wasn’t worthy of love. I mean, who could possibly love such an ugly face? At my lowest point, I met a boy. He made me realize I was so much more.”
‘My husband got a ‘work pass’ today to prove why he should be out and about when most of the world is on lockdown.’: Woman urges ‘check on your friends’ financially affected by pandemic
“I don’t like the idea of him stepping into harm’s way, but I also can’t help but think of those without a ‘pass’ or a steady income at such an uncertain time. These are our neighbors, our playdate friends, our hair stylists, and servers at our favorite restaurants. Let’s remember to check on them, too.”
‘We’ve all been exposed. Not necessarily to the virus, but BY the virus.’: Woman explains why Covid-19 is ‘tearing down our walls’
“Corona is exposing us. Exposing our weak sides, our dark sides. It’s peeling back our layers and tearing down our walls. It’s calling into question, ‘What is the church without a building? What is my worth without an income? How do we love despite risk?'”
‘I haven’t done any homeschooling. Today, we will do nothing. We won’t go anywhere, and I’ll let them watch TV while eating kraft dinner.’: Mom assures ‘it’s okay to feel like you’re going crazy’
“To see the playgrounds where my kids used to spend hours taped off, scares me. To hear my daughter say ‘mommy when will everything be normal again?’ and me not having an answer, scares me. This is all new for me. For my kids, for us. For you. And that’s okay.”
‘Today my husband had to sit in the hallway, and listen through speaker phone, to hear our baby go to heaven with their sister.’: Mom grieves loss of baby alone, urges ‘please, just stay home’
“This was us. We didn’t get to grieve together. We couldn’t even hug and tell each other it would be okay or that we would survive this. A father couldn’t look at his baby one last time, and a mother had to get the worst news about their baby…alone.”
‘He tried to kill me. I kept calling for help; someone saw what was happening and kept walking.’: Young woman survives abuse, depression, self harm, finds solace in converting, ‘‘I finally have my confidence back’’
“It was HELL ON EARTH. I push memories out of my mind, like running from dad as he pointed a gun at my mom. I tried to kill myself one night. Luckily, my mother walked in. I will never forget the disappointment I saw on her face as she realized her baby girl wanted to end the life she gave to her.”
‘We won’t get to take fireball shots together when she turns 21. She’ll never get to drive the red jeep with no doors that she wanted. We were robbed.’: After losing daughter to flu, mom is reminded that ‘love is permanent’
“Disney released Frozen 2 early due to the quarantine. This was the first and last movie we saw in the movie theater with her. I can remember the girls playing that movie on repeat. I always thought she was just like Anna. I will have this pain in my heart for the rest of my life.”
‘I called my mom hysterically crying, ‘I don’t want to cross the border alone. It’s too dangerous!’ Everyone was silent.’: Young woman takes risk leaving US during pandemic, ‘I’ve never wanted to be home so badly’
“The news was showing tons of people who were stuck in different countries because of the border closing. ‘Will I be stuck in Mexico? I’m a United States citizen, they can’t tell me no, right?’ I was so nervous! I didn’t want it to be me.”
‘This is my ex-husband’s new wife Tiffaney showing up and showing out. This isn’t JUST another picture of a stethoscope and a coffee cup.’: Nurse mom praises co-parent during quarantine
“Today, when she dropped off the boys, she brought coffee. I worked 72 hours last week, and will work 72 the next. Both ICU ‘s where I’m a nurse are busy preparing for unknowns. This is a picture of all of the good things I wanted from my divorce. By choosing their daddy, she also chooses them.”
‘They’re stuck with their abuser 24/7, nowhere else to go. For them, it’s life or death.’: Single foster, adoptive dad says ‘remember the kids in a worse place than they were before’
“If they were being abused, they’d get to leave for school. Now, they have nowhere else to go. The chances of anyone rescuing them is almost impossible. For many of us, our biggest problem right now is toilet paper. For them, it’s life or death.”
‘If I’m forced to self-isolate a majority of the time, you can for a few months!’: Young woman with chronic illness begs for social distancing, ‘Maybe we will become better humans when it’s over’
“To those saying, ‘it’s just a virus,’ you may be able to fight it off with no issues if you were to contract it. But guess what? It’s not just about you! It’s about everyone.”
‘Right now, while my husband, kids, and I are distancing, I picture Granny standing there. I can’t wait to capture another precious moment.’: Woman says ‘we must keep these two generations safe’
“I long to sit down with her at that table again. My heart aches when I think of all the visits, we took for granted. But it almost bursts with joy when I think of all we’ll do together in that kitchen when life looks like it used to.”
‘With all due respect to our veterans, we are doing a lot more than ‘just sitting on the couch and watching TV’ right now.’: Woman says ‘we are not in war, but we are surely fighting’
“Health care workers are risking their lives to save others. Businesses are shutting down. Grandparents are being asked to only see their grandchildren through windows and screens. Moms of littles must dig deep to find new levels of patience and creativity. We are not being sent to war, but we—all of us—are surely being asked to fight.”