Got myself a decent night’s sleep, so I am off to a chipper start to the day – hope you did, too. Weird dreams that I can’t remember now, but still a good sleep.

So, interesting convergence of themes on Twitter yesterday – empathy fatigue.

I think we’ve all got it – and it’s NORMAL. We’ve all had that person in our lives that we care about who is always asking for advice, never taking it, making terrible decisions and we just get to the point of, GODDAMMIT BECKY, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.

That’s where we are with the willingly unvaccinated these days, and it’s bigger and sharper, because their actions are affecting SO many people, while the rest of us have done everything we can to protect our families/friends/communities and tried to be patient and understanding – but they’re killing people…

I will readily admit, I am past the “get your shit together” stage and and very much on the cusp of “Fuck ’em all” – but they’re taking so many people with them. One vaccine refuser that gets Delta and it’s a cascade. They’ve exposed their family, friends, and community. They’ve exposed folks who *cannot* get vaccinated. If they end up in the hospital, they’re pushing the already fragile health care system and health care workers past their limits. Covid beds replace beds for non-Covid urgent/intensive care needs. Someone gets in a car accident and all the hospitals are diverting.

These folks who are getting Covid now – it’s not happening in a vacuum. And I still care deeply about all the people around them who can’t escape their actions and decisions. And yes, it’s tiring. And I genuinely don’t know how we get them to care about how their decisions are hurting other people. So, I’m just screaming at the universe and hoping the FDA gets the vaccines to full approval sooner rather than later so that employers and school can mandate it, and maybe we get Thanksgiving this year.

And I’ve been wondering about the ethics of scheduling non-critical personal care appointments, even vaxxed & masked. Is it a dick move? But then I also thought, maybe I’m taking an appointment slot from an unvaccinated person… (No one locally is requiring proof of vaccinations.) I mean, fuck, I don’t know – all these places are going to be open (no way in hell is the state shutting things down again, cause THE ECONOMY) so maybe I flood the zone as a vaccinated person.

If you’re tired, if you’re having a really hard time caring – it’s normal. You’re not a monster. When you’ve done everything you’re supposed to do and look around and see this mess, and you’re being told you have to do more while the powers that be are dangling gifts in front of the unvaccinated – it’s disheartening to say the least. This has been the worst group project ever and it’s OK to be pissed and at the end of your rope with the folks who haven’t done shit.

Take a breath, take a break, focus on the small bits you can control. Hell, start a blog to bitch about things and get it out of your system – it’s done wonders for me.