There’s no arguing with the fact that to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe from COVID-19, there are certain rules that we have to follow. We should all try and stay 6 metres apart. Members from different households shouldn’t meet up. Shopping trips and essential exercise should be our only excuses for leaving home.

While these rules are incredibly important to follow, they’ve left many of us feeling scared to step one foot out of line. Going out for two walks in one day, for example, may make you feel like a criminal – yet many of us need to get away from home for the sake of our mental health.

We’re blessed with the internet for being able to keep in contact with our loved ones, but we all know that seeing a floating head on the screen is not the same as being in a person’s presence. Video calls and chatting on social media can only go so far to fulfil our need for socialization.

Governments around the world have realized the impact self-isolation is having on us all, and many are looking into how to safely ease the measures put in place to allow us some more enjoyable interaction with those closest to us.

In the UK, for example, two members from different households can now meet up outside of their homes. This is a step in the right direction, as while social distancing is important for our physical health, it’s not good for our mental health at all.

Some people have had to ever-so-slightly adapt the quarantine rules to help them to stay sane during this unusual time. One of these people is Stephanie, a mom from Florida.

Stephanie has many struggles at home. She has a special-needs child to look after, as well as a sick husband. For Stephanie, getting breaks from the strain of her everyday life is essential.

So Stephanie called for her girlfriends to come to her home for a catch-up – making sure that they all stayed a safe distance away from one another, of course. The women didn’t enter Stephanie’s home. In fact, they didn’t even make it past her front drive, where the five sat on fold-out chairs in a large circle.

But Stephanie was scared to post the photo, because she knew it might attract the wrong sort of attention online. She bravely decided to share the post, with the caption:

“A lot of condemnation is happening online and it’s strange. We’re all fighting the same fight, but we all feel vastly different about how to handle it. And instead of letting people (safely) choose their own way—or post their own thoughts—we’re going on the attack.”

Of course, there is nothing technically wrong with what Stephanie did. Though it’s advised that family and friends stay away from one another, that’s exactly what Stephanie and her friends did. They made sure their chairs were six feet apart from each other, so the hypothetically, the virus would not be able to spread between them.

Opening up about her feelings, Stephanie added:

“I’m posting this because that driveway meetup saved my depression that day. And I am proud to have friends who show up with kindness—even during a pandemic.”

Stephanie managed an amazing thing with her post. Not everyone agreed with her actions, but those who didn’t expressed their feelings respectfully. Social media would certainly be a much better place if we all learnt to think before reacting with anger or hate.

No matter what you might personally think about Stephanie’s post, it doesn’t change one thing: friends and family are incredibly important, and it’s only now that we realize just how much we need them in our lives.

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Source: Relieved, Love What Matters, Sky News, Young Minds, Facebook/Tinkles Her Pants, Facebook/Stephanie Moore