It’s interesting how people’s true personalities come out during this time of stress. I’m happy to say that it looks like most of us are rising to the occasion, but then there are those few who are miserable and they want to make you miserable – not on purpose, it’s just their way.

I have friends who I have not spoken with in weeks because I turned them off. I didn’t dump them, I don’t dump people, but I do distance myself.

One of my best friends, who is always abrasive and rude, was quite rude via text. How do you get rude and obnoxious via text? I mean, in person, you can easily blurt something out, but I would think with a text you have time to look it over and remove the rude parts. Anyway, we have not spoken in a month. We will again, but not right now.

Others are negative about everything. I’m not that way, for years when I wrote the daily news in our town, I was abrasive at times, I fought with politicians and others and it got ugly sometimes, but that’s not me. I turned into something I didn’t like. But during these stressful times do I need to hear other people’s problems? I don’t mean serious problems, I mean daily day to day problems like you can’t find toilet paper, or you can’t get the SBA to answer your phone calls or you don’t have any business – I don’t either –  I can’t do anything about it for myself but I don’t dwell on it. We’re all stressed, it’s how you handle it.

I found out that by avoiding things, or thinking about things I don’t like, it helps me out. I know it sounds like a simple thing, but it protects my sanity. My cousin texted me the other day, sad and concerned about Broadway being closed. But while she is a New Yorker she lives far from Broadway and only goes a few times a year. I don’t think she would be going during this time of year, so I told her to just imagine it like it always is and don’t look at pictures of the empty streets. Make believe it is business as usual. Make believe Times Square is full of people and all is right with the world.

I’m using that with friends who insist on going out where they should be sheltering in place. They think it’s ok to go out daily for food or drive up two counties away to be with their family or run daily or just not stay home. I know it’s none of my business, but I feel the longer we prolong this thing, the worse it will be. So I’ve taken to ignoring them and what they are doing, just to get it out of my head. Who am I do judge them, although the air they breathe affects all of us these days. They want to be selfish, fine.

My favorite saying is, “It’s not about how many times you fall down, it’s about how many times you get up.” That saying has been attributed to so many people – Lincoln, Knute Rockne and others. I’m not sure who said it, but I love it. I have always lived by it.

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