While the World Was Quietly Changing

In this episode, I reflect on a time when I was simply living - working, traveling, and enjoying life- while the world around me was quietly changing.  I knew COVID was happening, but it didn't fully register for me until everyday things suddenly changed.   This isn't meant to make light of a difficult time.  It's a personal reflection on awareness, adjustments and the moments that wake us up when life shifts unexpectedly.

If this episode resonated with you and you're working through something in your own life, I offer 1:1 session - a space to talk things out and gain perspective.

You can learn more here:  https://calendly.com/claritywithindia

And if you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review.  It helps more people discover the show.

Transcript

0:02

This is unfiltered everyday shit. I'm India Sherelle. This podcast is a space for real conversations about life as is actually happening. The good, the bad, and everything in between. It's unfiltered, it's honest, and it's unapologetic. So let's talk about it. Welcome. I'm India Sherell, and this is unfiltered everyday. Shit. It's 2019. I was getting paid weekly and baby you couldn't tell me nothing. So how did I get there? I was working for a company, a brick and mortar. They had their own travel agency. I left. But the good thing about this travel agency is that they sent you to all of their buildings. So a lot of the buildings they were sending to our renewed people, but however they changed, they paid a little more. And I got weekly paychecks. Now, honey, I was living a life paying all my bills, doing everything I was happy. I kept trying to convince my friend to come over, but she wouldn't do it. One thing about the nursing world, especially if you know people aren't in competition with you, you tend to tell 'em you pay. And I kept saying, girl, you need to come on over here. Look at this money. Look what I'm getting. I'm paying off all my bills. Da. Come on. Anyway, she decided to come on. But back to my first travel assignment, I'm gonna say this was October, November, 2019, and I'm gonna tell you how I'm living in the world making money and oblivious to what's going on. One of the nurses was like, we got a patient downstairs. They got COVID. He's a COVID patient. And I'm like, what's that? She's like, girl, you ain't been watching the news. And I'm like, no, but I'm a very nonchalant person. At times I was like, well, I'll take the assignment. I mean, y'all acting like that. The man still need to be taken care of. I'll take the assignment. So I switched assignments with somebody. I went downstairs and I worked. No big deal for me. I know a couple days later. Somebody said, You been to the grocery store yet? And I said, no, for what? She was like, girl, you better go. They was getting ready to stop people. That was the goal was stop people from moving around. And I was like, oh, I'll go. I'll go tomorrow. Y'all always panicking, just like when it's snow, I get off that morning, I'm driving home, I go to a food line that's by my house and baby they wipe the clean. And when I say wipe the clean, Wasn't nothing there, nothing. No cleaning supplies, no toilet paper, no food, no milk, no nothing. They had wiped it clean, baby. And I was like, damn. I said, people was always panicking, still walking around, oblivious. I am trying to tell you. But I'm gonna tell you, shit really got real for me is when it was five of us living in this house and we was down to one roll of toilet paper. That's when shit got real. I can remember going to Food Lion and I'm like, where y'all gonna get your shipment? They was like, we don't know. Stuff is closed down. So I said, what? Mean the, the show been bad for almost a week now. So I'm at home is two grown adults and three teenage children, and we have one roll of toilet paper left. So I finally found some toilet paper on Home Depot website. I paid $50. Roughly $50 for some toilet paper. I told myself, next time when somebody tell you to do something, you better take heed. All right. Food line finally gets a shipment in now some weeks, but we need some groceries. Lord Jesus. Get inside there and I think I'm gonna do some grocery shopping. They say is a three meat limit. I am like, it's five of us in this house. What we gonna do with three meats? Aw. I was like, Lord Jesus. I called my son and my daughter on the phone. I said, I'm about to cash app you some money. Told my son, this is your list. I told my daughter, this is your list. Do not walk in the doors together. I didn't have a choice. It was five of us in that house, and I know damn well I wasn't the only one. All right, so, oh, I'm surviving. I finally realized shit is real. It's real out here. They started mandating us to have this piece of paper stating that you was a healthcare worker so you can be outside on the streets. I mean, it was getting real. And I'm like, okay. So now. I take on another assignment, I goes to Maryland and baby life really began for me when I hit Maryland grounds. Oh, I was enjoying myself, but I met some really nice people. But let me slow it down. I get to this facility out in Anne Arundel County, and they hired me to work the Alzheimer's unit. Anyway, they had me working the unit and also working regular population and you gotta gown up. I mean, this is during the time when we were still washing gowns. I mean, oh my God, it went against everything I have learned in nursing. But hey, the government has essentially left us. But anyway. I was like, this ain't gonna work. And by at this point it was just really heavy. So I goes to work one day and I pull the unit manager aside and I said, Hey, I wanna do some collaborative thinking with you. I'm not trying to tell you what to do with your unit, but however, this is an Alzheimer's unit and we have no way of keeping these people away from each other because you had to do social distancing. And if you ever worked on a dementia unit. You know, you have to go with them. It's not them going with you. I said, you know, I fear that if it comes back here, it will wipe this place clean. Next day I get to work. She says, India, you no longer have to go back out there. I said, Hey, win-win for me. I advocated for my patients and now I ain't got to work twice as hard. I get to stay back here on my dementia unit with my patients, which was really the safest thing for them. Now, I do acknowledge that COVID was a hard time for people because people were losing their lives. So when COVID had hit the nursing home I was still in North Carolina. We didn't see it that bad, not the part that I was in. And by the time I got to Maryland, all those that were dying and mass numbers were already gone. So I don't wanna make light of any situation. I wasn't there to experience it. But anyway, I stayed at that assignment. I renewed it once and it was a really good assignment. Met some really nice people and the world was still going on for me. We were still going out. Stores had opened back up. Some of those, night places were opened back up. So once again, I'm still living life, not realizing how bad the world is being affected by COVID. But that assignment ended and I went to another assignment in Towson, and I remember going to the bathroom, breaking down, crying. It was deplorable. I know people treat their dogs better than what I've seen in that building. And I remember calling my recruiter, I said, I can't. I can't work here. And she says, Iny, but you just signed the contract. I said, it's deplorable. This building needs to be shut down. It is deplorable. I cannot work here. And in my mind kept saying, well, who are you gonna call to report it to? 'cause essentially everybody that governed us, they disappeared. Nobody was around shit. We were using gowns over and over again. We were washing gowns. We were using the same mask. It went against every rule that I was taught, but that's essentially how we were left. After the Towson situation, I left and I said, I don't know if I can do this anymore. I don't think I wanna go travel to any more of your buildings. I've only been to two, and the two were great. There was the one in North Carolina and the one in end of county So I remember traveling back to North Carolina, getting home and I was like, this is not for me. I remember pulling up, indeed, fill another application. The lady called me the very next day. And we talked over the phone. We had a good conversation. We had so much in common and then she told me, come on up. And I said, I'll be there if anybody remember my episode. I'm not a tree i's what I mean. I go, when they say, can you, I say, yes, I can. I picked up, I said, I'm going for an interview. Left and went back to Maryland honey. I think the phone conversation was the interview when I got up there, they was taking my blood work and I was like, what is going on here? But I didn't know in Maryland you gotta have all your, immunizations and they wanna see proof. So that was new for me. But anyway, I did what I needed to do, got the job started, and I loved it. It was such a good experience., This place was in Columbia. It was a really, really good experience for me, and I can remember working and I was working hours and my friends was like, India, what's going on? Because you don't work. I do not, honey, i'm gonna do my eight and I'm out. But no baby. I was busting sixteens. I was giving them a hundred plus. 'cause I was like, it's workable. It's doable. You wanna know why. I don't know any other difference. So I can only speak about the two years that I was there at this facility. And what I seen was the patient to, nurse ratio was phenomenal. The most you will have is 14, maybe 15 patients. It's doable. I come from a place in North Carolina, they was giving you 30, it was impossible task. But at this building, I had 15 patients and it was doable. I can do my nursing job, I can literally give each of my patients the individualized attention that they needed, and I enjoyed it if I was on a skilled unit. During those days, the most you will have is 10. If any more patients came, they brought a second nurse, you are not gonna struggle that. They believe that that was their money haul. And how can you cater to people? If you run around with 25 patients, you can't, rehab is a very demanding unit. But I remember I used to call my friend, I'm like, girl, you know how many patients I got? I only got eight. And she was like, that's unheard of. And I was like, I know. I loved it. I loved working at that building because I can actually be a nurse and do my job. And I enjoyed it. Hey, I didn't mind giving them hours because I can do it. I mean. Nursing is stressful. But we was a team. The A was a team, the supervisors was a team. It was a really great place to work, but at some point in time, I had to go back home. So that's what happened. And fast forward to now, it is 2026, and I still keep that same motto. If you like it, you stay. If you don't, you go. It's nothing worse to go into a job you don't like. In dealing with people, you can't stand. You spend too much time at work, you spend too much time at work. It has to be a place that fits for you. I always tell people when this our turn to be in the nursing home, we are gonna be the generation that hoards the toilet paper. At least I know I will. 'cause I will. When I tell you, if I go to the Dollar Tree, I pick up two packs of toilet paper. If I go to Walmart, I pick up toilet paper. I don't care what store I go to. I pick up toilet paper because I'm trying to tell you I'll never be without toilet paper again. That's it for today. So let me ask you something. What's a moment in your life when you thought people were overreacting and then reality said, no, sis, I. But anyway. This podcast is just freedom. This is me. It's an outlet, it's a voice. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for listening.