Amy In The AM: Resetting during covid and asking you to join me!

It feels like it’s been a year since I’ve written something. Life has changed immeasurably since my last column in the print version of Voice of Muscatine. If memory serves, I last told you about my underpants. Still rather proud of that column. I came out as a chubby person. It was something that I’ve struggled with for so long but I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. Admitting it to my new (and favorite) community made it feel good. Cathartic. Clean in a way.


Since writing about those underpants and weight issues, we have gone through another shift here at the Farmhouse. Tim and I spend our days working, chatting quick and going home. Covid-19 has sliced our days in half so we’re lucky if we get to hang for a few minutes as I’m about to leave when he comes in. It’s just us and a quiet building. It’s a pandemic and it’s our “new normal.”


Another one of those new normal’s is the effects of actually being sick. Back at the tail end of March, I came down with what I was told via a virtual Doctor’s visit, was the flu coupled with bronchitis. In that tests for Covid-19 weren’t readily available to just anyone, they just asked that I self-isolate and get as much rest as possible. I knew it was possible that it was the virus that was rocking our nation so I did what I was told.

This knocked me for six! My body felt like it’d been severely beaten; it felt like I wasn’t getting the maximum amount of air in my lungs and the sore throat was intense to say the least. I had to keep texting my boyfriend to remind him not to call me because talking was out of the question. He just wanted to know I was okay but I didn’t have the strength to keep checking in with anyone. There’d be a day or two where I’d start to feel better and then the next; I’d sleep all day because I couldn’t move. To me, it didn’t feel like the flu. It felt far worse. I wasn’t tested so I can’t be sure but I can’t begin to explain the kind of cleaning I did in my apartment after all that. I’m still constantly wiping things down.

To this day, I still don’t feel like I’m 100%. I still feel tired here and there and my chest still feels tight but my attitude has never been better. Having said that, my panic and anxiety have ramped up since all of this began. I will prevail over that though.

The next big step for me is kick starting a healthy routine. I have a compromised immune system already so I feel that’s why I got so sick so suddenly but the bad habits I’ve been carrying on the daily… well, let’s just say they probably didn’t help my situation. AT ALL.

I’ve gained six pounds since all of this began. A lot of that is from the sedentary life I was already sort of living but most of it came from White Claw seltzer and Mexican fast food- something I’m not even supposed to eat. My jeans don’t fit, my shirts are too tight, and overall, I’m just uncomfortable.

Today, May 1st, I have started myself on a journey. That journey is to get moving (while remaining physically distant,) and to remove the chaos from my life. I share this in this column because I hope to share my progress and hope anyone reading would like to do this with me! If I started a group that kept us accountable, would you join? It’s for positive attitudes only, though. Negative Nancy need not apply! Let me know! Email me at akernan@jammediallc.com.

If there was ever a time to start over, that time is now! 😀

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