Social distancing isn't the easiest task for anyone to commit to at any point, let alone during a global coronavirus pandemic. For many, the isolation in it of itself can be an extra source of stress and anxiety to people living in an already uncertain time. This includes tennis superstar Serena Williams.
The 23-time grand slam singles champion announced on Instagram over a week ago that she too would be participating in self isolation to limit the spread of COVID-19. The plan was to keep away from the outside world for about six weeks, but less than a third of the way in, Williams started expressing how stressful the whole situation has been for her, particularly with her daughter.
"I wanted to take a minute and talk about my experience with corona," she said in a post on TikTok. "It started out with me feeling like: 'Oh it can't really affect me.' And then suddenly Indian Wells was cancelled and I was like: 'Oh, OK, that's weird but I have a little time off and I'm going to enjoy that time off.' And then one cancellation led to another and then led to another and led to all this anxiety that I'm feeling."
@serenawilliams23 My experience with ##RONA
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She went on to say that "every little thing" makes her "crazy" and highlighted how much this all has her worrying about her young daughter:
"And by anxiety I mean I'm just on edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy. I don't hang out with anyone, and when I say anyone I mean my daughter. She coughed, I got angry and gave her a side-eye. I gave her that 'angry Serena' and then I got sad. I was like: 'Is she OK? Is there something wrong with my daughter? Is there anything I can do?' I just don't know what to do, so instead of being relaxed I'm really under a ton of stress."
As of Friday afternoon, there have been over 250,000 cases of coronavirus globally. Among those, over 89,000 have recovered, while the death toll for the disease officially crossed the 10,000-mark on Friday, according to CBS News.
