(Reuters) – With her painting, baking and near-constant gardening, Stephanie Hollowell kept busy at home even before efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic meant she had to stay inside the Dallas, Texas house she calls her little kingdom.
Cynthia Burrell and husband Jack Seifert, massage therapists whose home-based business has been shuttered in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, pose for a portrait in their garden in Seattle, Washington, U.S. April 4, 2020. Picture taken April 4, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
She didn’t invite people to come taste her prizewinning cookies, or sample the sweet ground cherries that she grows. A proud introvert, public health orders to stay put suited her just fine.
“So many people are experiencing the painful aspects of this,” said Hollowell, an air traffic controller who took early retirement five years ago, when she was 50. “But basically my life has not changed one single bit.”
In the weeks since millions of people worldwide have been ordered to stay at home except for essential errands, the number of calls to psychiatrists has gone up as depression and anxiety wrack patients who lack social contact, and cannot even come in for an in-person therapy session.
But for those who are more used to solitary pursuits, the time alone can be rejuvenating – and a relief from the distress brought on by news of the coronavirus and its ravages.
Cynthia Burrell, a massage therapist whose home-based Seattle business has been shuttered, said despite the loss of work she has enjoyed the quieter time with her husband. The couple, avid birders, miss their o