Hi Anita,

I’m so sad to read that you were exposed. But it’s great you didn’t fall very ill. Are you doing better now? I hope your family is okay too. My friend had contracted COVID last year, and it weakened his breathing and stamina. There are some yogic breathing practices that help strengthen them. You could try those. 🙂

It must be so nice to have snow where you live. It makes me think of dark chocolate bread houses covered with icing sugar. 😀 Though that much snow must not be a cake. It must be freezing. I’ve never seen snow. Once, I was on vacation with my family to a hill station that usually receives snowfall. That year it was delayed, and it snowed after we’d left for home. 😀

Thank you for all your advice. I’m not sure yet, but I want to start a new thread because then I get the insights of others as well. 🙂

(1) Resume your self-care practices: I am trying, yes. Journaling, meditating, yoga, neutral self-talk, eating my fruits and veggies, green tea and chamomile, everything.

(2) When you are home, cuddle with Lily, pet her, find comfort in her physical presence, and tell her hello for me!: I sure will! This is such simple advice. and so effective. I have 3 cats. 🙂 Lily does not like to be cuddled, but one of the younger ones does. I pick him up all the time, till he practically squirms to get out of my arms.

(3) It would have helped a whole lot if you didn’t live with your mother, and if you were not otherwise exposed to her, keep that in mind.: I have been speaking to my therapist, for help with this whole career shift. She agrees with me. If I am successful in this, touch wood, I will be moving out of my house.

(4) Stop scolding yourself, and whenever you feel guilty in regard to your mother, tell yourself that you are not guilty!: My therapist said the same thing! She literally warned me, saying that I have to let go of the guilt because I am doing nothing wrong. Have done nothing wrong. She said if I do not let go of the guilt, I’m setting myself up for serious depression in the future.

(5) Communicate well with your boyfriend, make the relationship a win-win relationship and find comfort in it: My boyfriend is amazing, and I’m really grateful for him being in my life. Yes, I do need to communicate better. We just had a fight an hour ago 😀 Tell me, do past relationships have an impact on the current one? I was in a very long relationship before this, and I cant help but be reminded of it when similar things occur in my current one. There are some parts of that relationship I hated, and I vowed I wouldn’t be like that again or would not tolerate it again in a new relationship. I tend to get really closed-up. I guess I am afraid of being vulnerable. This may affect my relationship badly, no matter how understanding my boyfriend is.

(6) Every morning when you wake up, set the intent to not expect anything, good or bad, from the day; instead, form the desire to find some interest in the day, something (anything) positively interesting to look forward to: This is some brilliant advice. I do tend to put a lot of pressure on myself… I also tend to get very overwhelmed, which spikes my anxiety. So I set very small goals for myself each day, instead of looking at the big picture.

Hope to hear from you soon…