They still love you. They just don’t like you right now.

Don't let isolation have you thinking you and your loved ones are on the rocks.

This is a letter I’m writing by proxy. Your loved ones need to have a word with you.

Remember when this all started? It was exciting. Maybe morbidly so but still.

If you have kids, they were excited to be home. You wondered how you would do with homeschooling.

You and your significant other made plans on how to work from home. You had plans for projects around the house. Paint the bedroom. Fix up the kitchen. Finally, hang those photos that have been sitting in a box in the corner.

But it’s week five, six? You can’t remember either. You’re discovering a truth that didn’t exist in a pre-isolation world. You are annoying. Everyone you love is annoying. Those sweet faces you missed every day while you were at work were masks worn by hell spawns. They leave dishes everywhere. They are always in your space. They smell funny and have hair growing in strange places.

Meanwhile, you are just as useless and ugly.

Don’t fall for it. Isolation will have you hating everyone including yourself.

As it stands weeks-long isolation is set to have two distinct effects, babies and divorce. God help you if you get stuck with both.

Being human is a complicated thing. We require a balance of alone and not alone. Too much of either and shit goes sideways. We get sensitive. We get annoyed. We mistake our own irritation as the malfeasance of others.

Find something to do. Try to get outdoors. There are studies on how to run and bike safely. There is even a deal to get a Peletonish bike for near free if you have space.

Start a podcast. There are literally a million resources to figure out how. Or listen to mine if you are really bored.

Whatever you do just hold on. You love your people for a reason. You love them now. But you don’t like them and they don’t like you and that’s ok. We are all flawed as fuck. Those flaws get even worse when we are tired and trust me, we are all tired. But you are all in that house for a reason. You chose each other, or you created a life or two in that cramped ass house you’re sitting in.

Just sit tight, be less of a dick and forgive their dickish ways a little while longer.

You’ll thank me later. Trust me.