After months as a COVID long-hauler, how is it going for this Charlotte studio owner?

My name is Jillian Longsworth, and I am a mom and small business owner who is also a COVID-19 long hauler, navigating a year of change.

My business, NoDa Yoga, closed temporarily one year ago today on March 17, 2020, when the NC stay-at-home order began. Our team pivoted to virtual classes while enduring an 80% revenue loss. We are fortunate that our yoga community made the shift with us and has supported us with a Go Fund Me that helped get us through many months of the pandemic. The rest of the help keeping NoDa Yoga afloat has come from government and personal loans and grants.

Then, my daughter and I both caught COVID-19 in July. We are not sure how we caught the virus and assume it was from someone who was asymptomatic who we were around often.

Life as a COVID-19 long hauler

Since then, to be perfectly honest, it has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions stemming from long-haul symptoms that came on gradually after the initial coronavirus diagnosis. I developed insomnia, fatigue, a higher level of anxiety and neuropathy in my fingers and toes for many months.

About two months ago I experienced stroke-like symptoms, with numbing in my tongue, legs and arms, followed by headaches and balance issues that sent me to the doctor for blood work.

I have joint pain in my fingers and toes that wake me nightly at around 3 a.m. My once near-perfect blood pressure reading is now in the hypertension range, and my doctor and I are discussing blood pressure medication.

I’m 42, and with that, bring on the stigma of being a woman in her 40s. If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “Well, you are at that age where…” There is a lot of denial and a lot of bypassing right now regarding COVID-19 and long haulers. My symptoms are mild compared to many others within the community and beyond.

Today, I feel lucky that my physical body is regaining strength. I also feel incredibly lucky to have gone through the experience and to share stories with those within communities around Charlotte that feel alone on their long-haul journey. To experience is to gain knowledge and with knowledge comes a deep sense of empathy and compassion for humanity.

Misinformation runs rampant

On top of the long-haul symptoms, my everyday interactions with those within my yoga community became like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland — only it was Alice in COVID land. I found myself navigating through misinformation about the virus and watched as QAnon conspiracy theory verbiage began to make its way into my Instagram and Facebook stories on my feed from people I thought I knew in the health and wellness industries.

One definite change for my daughter and I are the friends we interact with online or out in public — with masks of course. We are no longer associated with certain people due to their outward portrayal that the virus is a hoax or the misinformation they have been fed by wellness influencers. The idea that the virus is a bad cold or that we are all sheep has been shared widely on feeds I used to follow by yoga teachers and wellness influencers.

My daughter is doing well, and we share our feelings often about what harm means and who is vulnerable in our community. She has also seen the economic downfall for those within our community, including those who are homeless, and has a desire to help others. We have many discussions on why it’s important to care for others by wearing a mask and to understand the difference between me vs. we mentality.

During COVID-19, people have been looking for answers from anyone they feel has a power position. Yoga influencers have an opportunity in Charlotte to speak up and stop the spread of misinformation. Instead, some choose to spread false claims. People want to feel a connection to these teachers and tend to believe every word they say, when in reality they are indoctrinated with misinformation themselves. It’s been very sad to watch.

We all seemed to be seeing something very different through the looking glass. I watched as the rabbit hole divided over masks and science grew wider across Charlotte. I felt with each door I opened, the window of tolerance from the community grew smaller and smaller. I have been asking the question lately of how do we widen that window of tolerance to be more human focused and maintain a space of safety and inclusivity of everyone in this pandemic.

Back in business

The NoDa Yoga main space still remains closed to in person classes, and with the newest study that has come out on gyms, it is clear we made the right choice in offering only virtual classes for the past year, although the studio will reopen toward the end of March with a limited schedule.

Experiencing all of the above put into perspective and created an opportunity for me to get clear on what our next steps were for NoDa Yoga. Our second location, which felt at times like the “Little Engine That Could” mid-pandemic, is fully coming into fruition and will open for in-person classes in Oakhurst at the end of March or early April. We will follow the governor’s capacity mandate, and we will require masks. We also installed three HVAC systems with plasma air sterilizers and will have a cleaning crew come in regularly.

We will continue to follow the science and the guidelines in place to safely and effectively open our doors. I often say to my students there is power in pausing, and this has been a pause I will never take for granted.