Ep. 44: Friday Listener Stories

Today we hear from Kristen, a new mom who has real reservations about the world she’ll be raising her daughter in; Danica, a mental health professional who can’t keep up with the demand for her services; and Julie, an artist questioning whether she really wants to go back to the way things were. To share your story—and to potentially be featured on an upcoming episode—leave us a voicemail at 909-713-8995.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm Danny Shapiro, and this is the Way we Live Now.
Each Friday, we're going to turn the show over to
our listeners. We want to hear your stories. This is
how we connect with each other by sharing the way
we live now. If you have a story, please do
call us. You'll hear our number at the end of
this episode. Our first caller today is Kristen, a mother

(00:29):
of a one year old who's been thinking a lot
about the new reality her daughter will grow up in. Hi, Danny,
this is Christian from Illinois, and I am out on
a walk, um and very with my almost one year

(00:50):
old daughter. And while it's so beautiful outside, UM, it's
just really hard to wrap your mind around, you know,
every thing that's going on in the world. It just
seems like, well, the weather is heating up and it's
becoming nicer, and the sun is out more, the grass
is green, it's almost just getting darker. UM doesn't feel

(01:13):
like there's really an end in sight. Being a new mom.
I had just gotten back to work from maternity leave, UM,
and for a couple of months that's getting into my
new groove and got that all settled, and then the
pandemic hit and while I'm so grateful to be home
with my daughter, it's definitely just been a really hard adjustment. UM.

(01:36):
And I always tell myself, you know, there's there's people
out there with multiple kids and homeschooling and all this stuff,
but I just feel so guilty that I can't keep
up with my work as well. And you know, your
your boss is sometimes harpen on you, and you have
emails coming in and a baby crying, and you just
feel awful. And I am just I almost feel guilty

(01:59):
for bringing her into this world, even though I love
her so much and she is just my entire heart,
and I just feel awful that we're scared that she
has to grow up with us eventually. UM. I don't
want her to be cost to go back to daycare
with people with masks, like she freaked out at the

(02:19):
pediatrician because everyone was a mask. But it's just the
lady are now, and michaels to protect her and to
be her light just as she is mine. Every day.
She definitely helped sent her, UM, you know, through all
this negativity, but your podcast has been great and realizing
that everyone is going through so many different things and well,

(02:44):
one person problem we seem small to them. It's definitely
comforting to know that we're all going through something together.
So for that, we thank you, and I just want
to encourage everyone to keeping kind, keeping calm, and we
will get through together. Thank you, have a great day.

(03:04):
Our second listener message is from Danika, a social worker
based in Virginia. Danika says she's having a hard time
keeping up with the demand from mental health care professionals
like herself. Hi, Danny, my name is Danika. I live
in Northern Virginia, DC suburb um emerginally from Massachusetts, and

(03:24):
I'm a licensed clinical social worker. UM My life has
changed drastically with covid UM. I was already working from home,
but I did home visits and of course those completely stopped,
and that was most of a part of my job.
The part of working at home. It's great. That's a
lot of documentation of paperwork, and I really don't enjoy that,
and that's basically a lot of what I have to

(03:45):
do now. UM. I also had a private practice and
I do online telehealth and that has boomed to the
point where I have to keep limiting myself because there's
just so many people in need and it's crazy to
me that, UM, you know, everyone's meeting criteria for major
depressive disorder or major anxiety you know, an anxiety disorder

(04:06):
minus the six months of having it, because we haven't
had six months of covid. UM, but mental health is
definitely a huge concern. On top of that, my mother
in law got very ill right as COVID started UM
with RSC and she has COPD which is a breathing
long disorder, and UM, she wasn't expected to make it,

(04:27):
and so we had to make an emergency trip north
UM right as COVID hit and things started to shut down,
and it was our quickest trip ever north UM. We
did it in about six hours, which he had never
done UM and thankfully she pulled through. However, after a
rehab stay, she was unable to return to her house
because her daughter and son in law who she lived with. UM.

(04:50):
The son in law is going to cancer treatment and
there was a positive case at her rehab, so we
had to bring her to Virginia with us to UM
to day and that of course has had its own
challenges UM because my husband and I both worked full time.
He's actually a police officer, so it is unprecedented times
for him to UM. And we have a nineteen year

(05:11):
old daughter. And while the benefits and beauty of this
has been my nineteen year old is home for dinner
every night. UM, and I love the family time and
the fact that we really enjoyed each other. UM. And
we really enjoy spending time together and playing games and
and I have loved that. UM. The challenges of trying

(05:31):
to care for somebody who's incredibly ill and requires a
lot of care, while also trying to work more than
full time between my full time job and my part
time jobs, and my part time jobs being so demanding
with people's needs. So thankfully for me, I had lost
eighty pounds UM up until leading into the COVID, and
I was in a much healthier place, and I was

(05:52):
doing a really great job of caring for me when
my daughter left for college. UM. So actually I've weathered
this well because of my own self care and my
exercise plan that I just moved from the gym to
walking and using weights at home. UM. It's certainly but
harder to eat as well, but UM, I'm managing it.
So thank you for giving us this platform. Our last

(06:14):
voicemail today is from Julie, an artist trying to wrap
her head around two conflicting emotions, wanting life to get
back to normal, and hoping things never go back to
the way they were. Hi, Danny, my name is Julie.
Thank you so much for making this container for us
to share our stories from this historic time. I wanted

(06:36):
to share mine because I feel like a little bit
of an outlier. Although I may have missed some stories
that are similar, I think I've listened to most of them.
I am an artist by training and by my work,
and I also am the mother of two young children
there's seven and eight years old, and I found it
almost impossible to continue working when they were born. I

(06:58):
was lucky to stay home with them and shoes to
do so, but I could not work at all in
the midst of that time. And I also am a
home schooler, and so I have had my plate very
full with that. And an unexpected benefit of this crisis
for me has been that my partner, who works fairly

(07:22):
long hours and a very traditional type job, has been
able to work from home, and I have had so
much more freedom than I had before that it really
feels like I've awakened from this great slumber. I have
been painting every day. I have been able to take
walks and even take some breaks, not many, neither of

(07:44):
us get many breaks, but I've had a fusure in there,
and I've really experienced what it's like to have a
partner in my daily work with our children, and have
been able to resume my work, and it's been so
life giving. I um it with the tension of willing
all of this to go away. We are also tired

(08:07):
and just and over it, to say the least. But
also I don't want to go back. I love the
time that I have now for myself. I love the
time that I have now that is not filled with
obligations and places to be, and I would like to

(08:27):
sit right here in this in some way that also
offers health and hope and freedom to so many people
who are suffering. So I just wanted to offer that
is a little different perspective. It feels complicated too. I
feel like I'm desperate to get out of this time,

(08:47):
and also that I don't want to leave it at all,
like all of us, feels complicated on a lot of levels.
Thanks so much for collecting our stories. Standing this is
that feels like a really important project. And it's been
really wonderful to hear from from all over and I
appreciate your work. Thank you bye. Thanks for listening to

(09:11):
the Way We Live Now. Tell us the way you're
living now. We want to hear call us on. You
might want to a pen for this nine O nine
one three eight that's nine O nine seven one three
eight nine nine five and record your story and we
might just use it on the pod. Also, you can

(09:31):
join our Facebook group at facebook dot com slash groups
slash the Way We Live Now Pod. We are creating
a community here and we would love for you to
join us. You can find me on Instagram at Danny Ryder.
The Way We Live Now is a production of I
Heart Radio. It's produced by a Low Brolante. Bethan Macaluso
is executive producer. Special thanks to Tristan McNeil and Tyler Klang.

(09:56):
For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.