The unknown of what’s going to happen next can be scary. The coronavirus that has ended lives and infected thousands of people all around the world. Throughout the world, the economy in many ways has come to a halt. Each country and even each state in the U.S. is taking different precautions as people in leadership try to make the best decision on how to stop the spread of this virus. Lots of people are now working from home while essential workers are still going to their jobs, risking their health in order to do their job and help others. Schools have been shut down, leaving students to learn from home. The grocery stores are being emptied as people want to ensure that if things were to get worse, that they have the things they would need. Yes, that includes stocking up on toilet paper!
The unknowns can cause a lot of worries, anxieties, stress and change in ways that we may have never thought of before. I want to share about the unknowns in my life at this moment.
As of March 17th, the county that I work in and 5 other counties around me announced a ‘shelter in place’. This means that only essential workers (people who work in healthcare, grocery stores, custodians, police, firefighters, banks, child care, etc.) were able to go to work. I am a teacher, but I don’t work in the public school system, so my job looks different than other teachers. I work at a school from infants to 5 years old all day and care for elementary students after their normal school day.
From March 17th to now, the guidelines of what was necessary to stay open changed everyday and still continues to change now. The ‘shelter in place’ for the school that I work at was only allowing the parents enrolled at the school, who have essential jobs to bring their children to school. However, depending on that number, we needed to meet certain guidelines like a strict limit of how many children can be in one classroom, keeping the same students together each day without combining with other classes, and a different parent drop off and pick up procedure, etc.
With the amount of students whose parents are not essential and the few parents who are essential, our school took a big hit in enrollment, resulting in less money for the school and for staff paychecks. Unfortunately, on March 26th, my boss told the staff that our hours are being cut to 24 hours a week and sadly because of where I work; being a nonprofit school, I can’t file for unemployment.
The question I ask is, what do I do next? Can I live with only 24 hours a week? Do I look for a full time job? Do I keep my job and find a part time job somewhere else to make up for the hours? The jobs that are hiring at this moment are jobs that are at high risk of getting the virus. So the biggest factor I have to consider is that if I keep my job and also find another job, I am at a higher risk at exposing the virus at school and if that were the case, we would be forced to be shut down for the time being.
The other main question that goes through my head is, how is this affecting the world race? Will I be able to go? Will I be able to raise enough money to go? At this moment, the world race is still happening in October and I still want to go.
This is my life right now. Yes, it could be worse and it could be better. I praise God no matter what even though sometimes it’s hard to. I take it day by day and pray for guidance in my life and for everyone in the world that is being affected in some way from the coronavirus. I continue to process what is going on with my family, friends and coworkers. The unknown can be scary, but I continue to lean on God’s understanding rather than mine and knowing that challenging times come and that I am never alone in this journey!
