By Lisa Carter
If you haven’t achieved some great new thing while in isolation, there is something wrong with you. At least that’s what some social media influencers would have us believe.
Motivational posts urging you to learn a new language, start a new business or acquire new knowledge, label you as lacking in discipline if you achieved none of those grand goals.
Truth is, if you are anything like me, you’d have been struggling to bother to even get dressed each day.
Isolation at home has not been free time in any normal sense. There is a deadly global pandemic and it is ok not to be ok with this. People are dealing with job losses, reduced incomes and fears about the illness for self or loved ones.
Even if we are among the lucky ones to retain our jobs, we may find difficulty focusing, with additional demands at home such as a houseful of children to keep occupied. These are strange and uncertain times.
It is also time for self–compassion.
Kindness to oneself is not practised enough, in my opinion. We are our own worst critic; cruel and unforgiving to ourselves. We often fail to understand that we need to put ourselves first, particularly during this time of uncertainty, so that we are there for others who need us. The oft-cited example to support the rationale of self-care is oxygen masks on airplanes.
The flight attendant instructs you to “put your oxygen mask on first,” before helping others. Why is this an important rule for ensuring survival? Because if you run out of oxygen yourself, you can’t help anyone else with their oxygen mask.
…there seem to be very few things within our control… unless you are living with chronic hepatitis C.
We are in a challenging situation right now.
For most of us, all sense of normality has been turned upside-down and there seem to be very few things within our control… unless you are living with chronic hepatitis C.
Really? Yes, really.
Getting cured of hepatitis C is one of the easy things you can do to improve your health and make your life less stressful. It is one thing you can control during this time. With hepatitis C your health is compromised, and you may find that symptoms of COVID-19 are worse if you contract this virus as well.*
While this novel coronavirus is still proving a challenge to for medical researchers, they have got that other virus – the hepatitis C virus – in hand. New treatments are available that cure hepatitis C, quickly and with few side effects and over 95% success rate.
Curing your hep C will reduce your risks associated with COVID-19, reduce fatigue and help you be the best version of yourself for others, or even just for you. For most people, this cure can be achieved with pills taken over eight or 12 weeks.
In South Australia, we are so lucky; with very little effort you can contact your local viral hepatitis nurse and with their support, rid yourself of your hep C.
So, be kind to yourself. Just pick up that phone and give one of those friendly viral hepatitis nurses a call. With so much done by telephone these days, you might only need one face to face, and there’s a chance you may only need to get dressed once…
*https://hepatitissa.asn.au/blog/coronavirus-and-hepatitis/
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Hepatitis C – Get Cured
You can be cured safely during COVID-19 restrictions
It is just pills, for 8 or 12 weeks
Talk to someone who has been cured – Call Hepatitis SA on 1800 437 222
Or call your local community viral hepatitis nurse
to arrange testing and treatment
North: Lucy- 0401 717 971 | Michelle- 0413 285 476
Central/West: Margery- 0423 782 415 | Deb- 0401 717 953
South: Rosalie- 0466 777 876 | Jeff- 0466 777 873
Why do you think we are so often our own worst critics? Why is it so difficult for us to practice kindness to ourselves? Telkom University