Longtime Seller Mentally Struggling

[moldy5]

Hi fellow eBayers, how are you dealing with this stay at home mandate?  For me it's the same day over & over. Even need to check the news to see what day it really is. Still selling & thankful. 1 or 2 items daily. Yeah, helps kill maybe 20 minutes. Then what?  Have over 100 of my free listings left but no energy to make new listings. Feel like I am screwing myself. But also feel like so what. Who cares.  I am in Michigan with the strictest stay home orders. Makes me feel safer. But makes me crazier too.

Please suggest ways to just keep getting up each day. I have frankly run out. Am 68 with COPD so dealing with my mortality. But keep listing/selling items of my favorite entertainer.  But it's so hard dealing with the fear, not knowing when this will end, seeing the future.  How do you keep going?   No am not suicidal. Just mentally screwed.

[moldy5]

Thanks so much for this! It really helped a lot. We feed squirrels,birds & chipmunks too. Got videos of them fighting over food. I need to be thankful for this bit of God's nature.

[moldy5]

Am a news addict waaay before all this. How to stop reading all the depressing updates?

[moldy5]

You are so right & I understand it. But crud, so hard to do. The mask wearing part of this which I do when leaving the house is so bleeping hard. Use a bandana with many folds. KInda fat. Makes me feel like I can't see or breath but of course I can. Easier to just stay here,fester & get more messed up.

[moldy5]

So happy to hear from you Mam. Have always appreciated all your posts. Thanks for your support. No idea what it's like to fight cancer but been with my fella 47 years. I was a church goer all my life before meeting with my pastor 3 years ago & finding out how the Methodists felt about same sex marriage. His reply made me quit church. Yes, Mom of a gay daughter.
But list/sell many of her childhood items. Keeps me going. Sorry to be such a mess but so thankful to have you all here to chat with. I have a flip phone. No smartphone. I connect on eBay & google. Looks like it may not be enough. Thanks so much Mam.

[bbravo65]

@upgradedendmills 

...I hope your family and your neighbor all are well in recovery after the tornado...

...sending my prayer along with best wishes...

...take care...

[atikovi]

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@moldy5 wrote:

Hi fellow eBayers, how are you dealing with this stay at home mandate? 

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Jeez people, this isn’t a lockdown. You can still go to the supermarket for groceries, to the gas station for gas, to the repair shop for service, to the mountains or beaches for hiking and biking. The police can’t stop you just for being out and about. And even if they did, you could be coming and going to those places.

[gracieallen01]

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@moldy5 wrote:

Hi fellow eBayers, how are you dealing with this stay at home mandate? 

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Well, let's see.  I like to play some D&D games, some space games (X3TC is quite 'scenic'), read SF - the old stuff, go for a morning walk - of course, the place I like to walk is 1/2 an hour drive from here, but the drive is nice, too.  And so on.  Stay at home, never.  Yeah, I'm an octogenarian with health problems (COPD, and others, too), but one doesn't have to go, or be, around people and I can play my music as loud as I like in the car.

What do YOU like to do that you haven't done that much of in the past years?  You have an excuse now to wallow in it!  What project?  What books?  What hobbies?  What haven't you had time to do?  Sooooo, go ahead and DO it!  Do something you REALLY enjoy, for a change!  You don't have to feel guilty now.  😀

(Oh, yeah, you ain't alone with mortality.  One thing we all have in common.  You don't get to leave this life alive)

[ed8108]

Please consider the adoption of an adult cat companion

[suerunner]

I have down a ton of kayaking. It was fun seeing nesting water birds and now seeing the young ones grow. I have never slowed down to observe before. I also got into water swimming at much lower temps than I normally would. New record 42F
(Not counting polar plunge). Smashed my old 58f.

[kathieskorner]

I am 75 with a few pre-existing conditions.   What gets me up and moving every day is my dog - she has to be walked and fed twice a day and usually has to be wherever I am.    She's not much of a conversationalist, but she makes me laugh with her antics.

I refuse to stay at home 24/7 - sometimes if there are no errands to run I just go for an afternoon  ride in the car with the windows down or go for a long walk in the neighborhood or by the canal.   I do limit social interaction to immediate family or via the phone and internet.

I haven't been motivated to create new listings for several months - I used to create 25 per month per account - now maybe 5.   Strangely during the shutdowns, I have been selling a lot of old inventory that has been relisted multiple times which lessens the perceived need to create new listings. 

I refuse to live in fear which is being made worse by the daily doses of media "news".    I have come to terms with my mortality which is why I refuse to be confined to my home.   I don't feel any safer within my own four walls than I do outside in the fresh air.  Besides sunshine helps boost the immune system and improves the mental outlook so get out and smell the flowers and listen to the birds sing.  

Instilling fear in us old folks is bad enough, but passing it on to children is far worse.   A childhood should be happy not filled with fears.   Talking about sending kids to school in masks and forcing social distancing on them is downright scary in my book.   Many have already lost too much education time.   Just as home schooling has had drawbacks so does online education - especially for those that don't have adequate home support.  

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

you have given those most wonderful advise to OP. And don't forget the fur babies in shelters, good time to go thru all old towels, rugs and blankets to donate to local organizations to use and veterinary offices use them as well and appreciate it. Stop watching the news and watch birds instead, if I hear that phrase "social distancing" one more time I will scream! 

[vintagecraze50]

I focus on all the positives I have in my live despite this horrible pandemic. I strongly believe in the healing power of nature and I spend a lot of time outdoors looking and beautiful landscapes. I stay connected with people on the internet or phone. Taking up a hobby where you can express yourself is a fantastic thing and anyone can do this with any variety of physical ailment. I live in Southern Utah and can look out my window and see beautiful colorful canyons. I thank God for where I live and the beauty here. Find beauty every single day of your life.

[byrd69er]

I no longer plant a garden due to the deer and other critters harvesting my crops for me. I've tried fences. I gave up. The area that was a garden is now a bird fort, set up right in the middle of the backyard.  My son and I covered the 25' x 20' area in black plastic to kill weeds and mugwort (an invasive specie), and then we're been covering the entire area with logs, sticks, sheets of bark, branches...making covered areas...elevated areas, upright branches for perching on, etc. We have several stumps, two old wood folding chairs (now feeders), some hanging baskets containing coconut fibers, and a bird feeder. About 15 places in the fort get small piles of food. 

The idea is an instant hit. Within two days, the word had gotten out.   FOOD!!!!

Oh....the woods behind me supplied my materials and the variety of wildlife.

A great littile project if you have an area to dedicate to it. 

[tamaralea]

Make a list of all the things you are thankful for.  I would start with having access to Google.  I can't believe how many people are going through this with NO internet access.  I've been calling them with updates on things.

[vintagecraze50]

You made an excellent point here in your post. SLOW DOWN and notice the beautiful things that are a part of your life that the hectic schedules have caused people to miss.