This infographic comes from the following link: 
​https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/?fbclid=IwAR0tEACxNidGAk7tXMAJJsUm3lyFlCS9VmHh7PEgm2RkSwOwlsQaulMoQtU

A pdf version of the article can be found here
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This has been going around a lot and I wanted to share it today because things are starting to open up across the United States.  In my blog, Covid-19 Part 1, I mentioned how fragile we are as humans.  This virus has been unreal and living through it has been unreal.  So I wanted to post this because it sums up a lot of things that have happened in the past month that everyone across the world can relate to:

Today is Monday April 27th, 2020 and as of today, this is where we are:

• We are at 44 days of social isolation.  I have been off work now for 40 days.  I am being asked back to work to start "TO-GO" only orders and on Monday May 1st, our dining room is opening with huge restrictions.
  • ​These restrictions include social distancing (seating every other table), the restaurant will be at 1/2 capacity, the bar will be closed, all employees in the FOH will be required to wear masks/gloves and cannot touch any plates, silverware or drink ware using bare hands.  We will be on a restricted disposable 1-time use menu and we will have someone dedicated to spraying and disinfecting all touch-surfaces every 15-30 minutes every day.  
• The dollar is worth $ 5.32, the euro $ 5.77 and the pound $ 6.54.  In 1 month, the US Stock market went from 28,000 points to 18,000 points and has rebounded to 24,000 points.
• Schools have been closed since mid March and are teaching remotely on-line. This will continue for the rest of the school year.  Most parents are having to homeschool their children.  For colleges and universities, students were sent home and all teaching has moved to an online platform.  Schools have refunded housing and meal plans, parking passes, etc.  And small schools are shutting their doors for good because they could not handle the financial crisis placed upon them because of the virus.
• There are lines / tapes inside the stores on the floors to keep people 6 feet apart and to control 1-way lanes so people do not have to pass each other.
• Bars and restaurants are open only for takeout, home delivery & pick-up.  Most states have approved Alcohol-to-go sales.  
• Parks, beaches, hiking trails and walk-in places are not accessible to the public.
• All major and minor league sports competitions have been cancelled as well as kid's sports.
• All festivals and entertainment events have been banned.
• New segments, concerts, and shows are being filmed in an at-home environment where we can see the actors/singers/etc live from their living rooms
• Weddings, family celebrations and birthdays have been cancelled. Funerals limited to 10-20 people.
• People are doing drive-by parades to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries
• Young kids can’t understand why they can only see grandparents & other extended family and friends on a screen or thru a window if someone visits in person or on Facetime online.
• Hugs and kisses are not exchanged.
• The churches are closed or online.
• We have to stay away from each other at a recommended 6 feet apart, however the virus can last on surfaces and in people for a lot longer/farther than 6 feet
• Shortage of disposable masks and gloves in hospitals and across the world
• There are fewer ventilators than there should be.
• The President authorized the Defense Product Act requiring US Businesses to stop production of their products and produce products that America currently needs (masks, gloves, ventilators, gowns)
• People are wearing masks, some places even REQUIRE that you wear them to enter! People are even sewing their own cloth masks for sale or donation to medical facilities.
• Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bleach, antibacterial wipes and anything Lysol or Clorox is in short supply and limited per person.... IF you can even find them!
• Stores are closing early to disinfect everything. (24 hour stores are even closing by 9pm)
• Store check outs, pharmacies and even fast food drive thru windows have added plexiglass between the employee and the customer. Have to reach around or under to pay!
• You can't find isopropyl alcohol easily. .. the supply per person is limited.
• Australia, USA, Canada and Europe have closed their borders.
• Western Australia has been divided into 9 territories & an instant $1,500 fine issued for crossing the border without a valid reason. (Transport workers, Essential services etc)
• No one is travelling for leisure. Airports empty. Tourism has the worst crisis in history.
• The United States Congress has passed a series of stimulus bills to help America including an extra $600 per week all people on unemployment, a check of up to $1200 per American who filed taxes and Loans for small businesses.  The CARES ACT: costs $1.8 trillion, the largest stimulus ever approved in US History.  Overall Congress has approved close to $3trillion in stimulus funding...in 2019 the entire revenue taken in by Congress was $3.5 trillion.  
• People are dying.  As of today 55,000 US Citizens have died with a total of 993,000 confirmed cases in the US.  In the world, 209,132 people have died with a total of 3,027,192 cases confirmed.  The last time I posted about Covid (1 months and 7 days ago) we only had 250 deaths in the US from Covid.  SO in 1 month and 7 days we have had 54,750 deaths.  
• We have seen roughly 2,000 people In the US die on a daily basis since March 25th.  The FLU in the US killed 50,000 people over the course of the entire year of 2019...In just 1 month and 7 days Covid-19 has killed more US Citizens than the flu did in all of last year.
• Nursing Homes and hospitals have eliminated visitors.  That means people giving birth, people dying in the hospital, and people in nursing homes have been alone and without their family members.  Nurses and front line staff have had to serve as fill in family members for the countless people who have died in the hospital because of Covid-19.  
• Unemployment is currently at about 14-16% with 16.9million to 20 million Americans filing for unemployment because of Covid-19.  
• The President of the USA has given almost daily briefings on the Covid-19 outbreak.  This briefings have been very polarizing because of the Presidents remarks including remarks where he insinuated that people might be able to inject chemicals such as disinfectants into their body to eliminate the virus (the CDC, the poison control center,  FDA and other officials/companies/agencies have had to issue PSAs encouraging people not to digest or inject disinfectants).  The President has also issued many misstatements, instigated hate and fear towards Asian cultures and people because he kept calling the virus the "Chinese Virus" and has pushed fake cures such as the use of Hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, as helping with the virus.  The President's 3 family mutual funds all have major stock investments in Sanofi, the producer of Hydroxychloroquine.  
• No one has decided on where the virus came from.  Some believe it was a virus being developed in a lab in Wuhan, China and  escaped the lab.  Some believe it came from eating animals sold in wet markets in China (such as a bat).  China believe the US Military brought it into the country. All we know is that the virus started to spread in Wuhan, China and that China was slow in confirming the viruses existence and issue and waited for months before sounding alarm and closing off Wuhan China for 4 months.  It is believed that the first deaths in the US because of Covid were in early February.  

Why do I post this?
This should always be a reminder that life is precious & that nothing should be taken for granted. We are where we are with what we have. Let's be grateful.
This has been copied from various other versions.  If there is anything you think I should add, please feel free to comment below so I can add it to this list.  

Today I saw an image that really resonated with me.  The image reminds me of the importance to always focus on "humanity."  We all have the same thread that binds us all together and we must embrace that, we must respect that and we must rely on that to show us the right way to interact with others.  The image is below:  (Let me know your thoughts on it or how it made you feel)...

I have always tried over the course of my entire life to be friendly, genuine, compassionate, empathetic, engaged, happy, authentic and positive.  But over the years, I have learned that it is extremely important to also be a realist about life and about what is happening in the world.  I am human and just like all humans I am imperfect.  I make decisions that are detrimental to my future, I don't always live the values I try to promote and sometimes I get angry, upset or disappointed.  I think that all of this is part o the human experience that we all share.  We all have feelings...we all have emotions and we are all always trying to control those emotions and the role they play on us as we interact with people and the world.  

Some of it I think is genetic, other pieces revolve around the environment in which we were raised, and others are learned societal expectations on how we should act or how we should feel about a certain topic...and to some extent...part of it might be a coping mechanism that we develop based upon the culmination of the life experiences we have had that develop us into who we are.  

Today, I was told by someone "Why do you always go to the negative."  It is the second time in my life that I have been told that I am a negative person, and I am not going to lie...it hurt...just as much the second time as it did the first time.  I have always had a philosophy that I have always tried to follow...I never try to criticize someone's physical appearance to the world...and by physical appearance, I refer to anything public with which someone offers to the world as representation of who they are.  So when someone says that "you are negative," I am always shocked by such comments because my first thought is...and who are you to come at me and judge me for my flaws."  No one truly knows what you have gone through or experienced or felt.  You know that saying, Don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes, it is a powerful lesson to always remember the fragility of the human experience and that you really don't know what someone else has gone through or what they are dealing with and that makes it all the more important to be mindful of how we interact with each other.  

I know over the years I have been critical, but I always try to focus my criticism on an action (the intent behind a decision and also the consequences of those decisions) and how they lead to the best or worst version of an individual.  As I said...I too am not perfect and I am going to do a lot more in the future to always be more mindful of both sides of a situation and where someone is coming from when it comes to a situation.  So if I have ever been overly critical, I am sorry.  I have spent a lot of time being bitter, being upset, being frustrated...and instead I am going to choose Happiness over these other emotions.  

“Every time your brain has a success, you just change the goal post of what success looks like…and if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there.  What we have done is we have pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society and that is because we think that we have to be successful and then we will be happier, but our brains work in the opposite order.  If you can raise somebody’s level of positivity in the present then their brain experiences what we call a happiness advantage.”

The world today is crazy.  With everything that is going on with Covid-19 and all the sad and depressing news that is being made in relationship to Covid and being isolated and away from friends and family, it makes sense why people are anxious, are depressed, are afraid.  But today, more than ever we need to focus on happiness.  We need to utilize positive psychology to help us get through these times so that we can beat the coronavirus and bounce back stronger than before.  

Over the next 21 days, I am going to try to find my Happiness Advantage by following the simple tasks below:
1) Everyday I am going to post 3 things I am grateful for
2) Everyday I am going to journal about 1 positive experience
3) Everyday I am going to exercise
4) Everyday I am going to meditate
5) Everyday I am going to do a random act of kindness.

What are you doing to create your Happiness Advantage?