By Mike Hrycko

Daily World publisher

Life was so much simpler just a couple of weeks ago. To say things have changed would be an understatement. We’re all adapting to new routines that we would never have imagined and the scary part is we don’t know what we don’t know. What’s next?

It’s become hard to go online, turn on the television, listen to the radio or pick up our paper and not find something relating to the cold hard facts behind COVID-19. That’s OK, that’s what those sources are supposed to do. But it can all be a bit overwhelming and more than a little draining. We all understand that we’re living in trying times, that we don’t know what tomorrow holds and that things have the potential to get worse before they get better. We’ve heard the sound bites and seen the graphs. But we’ve also heard remarkable stories about people going above and beyond to help each other. And we’re doing a great job of social-distancing and slowing the spread of the virus.

At The Daily World we’re committed to bringing you all the most up to date and accurate information that we can gather. We’re proud of the work we’ve done and we will continue to do so for as long as possible.

What we don’t hear enough about is how it is affecting us as individuals. What in your daily routine has changed (other than it’s much more difficult to purchase toilet paper now days)? We want to focus on that and that’s where we need your help. I want to hear from as many readers as possible about how the coronavirus outbreak has affected, or not affected, your life.

I can tell you that I’ve been using this outbreak to get out of having to go into Walmart or IGA. I look at toilet paper, paper towels and disinfectant wipes as more of a commodity now. I watched old episodes of Doomsday Preppers last weekend with the family and thought those people don’t look so crazy anymore (well some of them still do). For obvious reasons we aren’t going out as much so it’s safe to assume I’m driving everyone in my house a little crazier than usual.

What are your stories? We’re all experiencing this in different ways, and differently from day to day. What are you doing now that you never thought you’d see? What are you learning? What do you miss. Who are you depending on? Are you surprised at how much you took chocolate for granted?

Email me your stories at mhrycko@thedailyworld.com and we’ll publish as many as we have room for.