It’s finally happened. After four months of physical distancing, mask wearing, hand washing, staying home and staying safe, I finally reached my breaking point.

I’ve been silent on my blog over the past few weeks. For those who are following me, you know that it is because my wife and I just sold our house and moved. Everything came about in a 6-week period, so it’s been pretty rock and roll for a while now, but you can read more about that in my last blog post.

Our house sale was finalized this past Thursday. On Friday morning, my wife and I decided to celebrate and went out for our first non-takeout meal since the beginning of March. I have very much missed going to eat in a restaurant. While we have been supporting our local eateries through takeout meals, there’s just something missing when you’re not dining in the restaurant.

With our delicious meal finished, we headed out to a few stores as we had a list of things that we wanted to pick up for our new home. We went to a shop, found the item we wanted on display, and asked one of the staff members for help. A couple of minutes later, they returned to say they were out of stock, and so was their warehouse. They’d probably have some in by the end of August. *sigh* Okay. No problem.

We went to another store and found another item we were needing. Lather, rinse, repeat. Store after store, we were met with low/non-existent stock. COVID-19 was having major ramifications on the supply chain.

I just couldn’t take it. I became so very frustrated by it all. For four months, I had navigated the waters of this pandemic and kept calm, cool and collected. Now, I had reached my breaking point. It ruined my afternoon. What should have been a fun, celebratory day ended up being disappointment after disappointment.

Taking a step back, I realize that I was overreacting. I was exhausted from the move, not to mention the six weeks leading up to the big day. I wasn’t my best-self and I let the situation upset me. I’m usually a patient, understanding individual and let things roll off my back. Not today. This was my sign that it’s time to take a step back and rest. I need to bring equanimity to my system.

I know that life is not resembling what we consider normal anymore. I’ve come to accept that this change will be with us for a considerable amount of time. I’ll be honest in my belief that our world will never return to how it was before COVID-19. This will be a marker in our history where we will refer to BC or PC (before/post COVID-19). We will have some return to normalcy with the eventual arrival of a vaccine, but things will inexorably be different. We have to learn to accept change. Change is the only permanence in our world.

How have you been handling the pandemic? At what point did you hit your breaking point? Are you navigating the change? Share your thoughts below!