-By: Maria Sigrid Dugeno-Lo
Hubby and I were still traveling till the day before the lockdowns started in March 2020. As a blogger, I was constantly invited to cover events around the country so up to the last day, we were still covering an event, unaware that it would be our last before the world declared a state of a pandemic.
What Just Happened?
We waited on the news updates with bated breath as to how the world was coping with the Covid-19 pandemic. Hours, days, and weeks passed and the information was getting gloomier. The numbers were really depressing. As the numbers of positive cases surged, it seemed like the countries were competing against each other on who had the least mortality.
World leaders, celebrities, spiritual personalities, doctors, nurses, and many others contracted the virus.
A big percentage of them succumbed to complications.
It seemed that the world was facing a doomsday scenario and there was no end in sight.
That was 2020. Our family business was closed for 2 months, as we also did not want to risk my in-laws and the staff. Finances became a problem. As perhaps the most happening blogger in Bacolod back then, I was forced to stay in the safe confines of our home.
One night, I broke down over my sleeping kids, realizing that there might not be a future for them.
Utilizing the Internet as a Mommy Blogger and Influencer
Thankfully, despite everything that has happened, the internet was still available to us. I realized that I could utilize my online voice and my social media following to do some good in this pandemic. Here’s what I did:
- I shied away from reading and sharing news updates about Covid-19, especially where there are deaths involved. That was already the job of the news outlets.
- Instead, I focused on sharing reminders to how to stay safe during the pandemic, as I believed that there are still people who do not exercise caution.
- Eventually, I helped in the government’s campaign to get everyone vaccinated against Covid-19 in my own capacity. We believe in the vaccine so hubby and I have decided to be a part of the solution. We got vaccinated not just for ourselves but for our society to eventually develop herd immunity that can end this pandemic.
- In my mommy blog, I came up with P50-recipes that could feed the family, using mainly ingredients from ayuda bags. There, I also featured brave moms who started businesses during the pandemic in order to make ends meet.
- I also kept sharing inspirational stories in my lifestyle blog about people who rose above the pandemic by forming groups that fed and made PPEs for frontliners and the underprivileged. It felt good to just honor them and their works that way.
Blogging and social media influence were not about earning anymore. Sharing information became my passion project in order to send positive vibes to this world that has been suddenly plunged into despair because of the coronavirus. From my little corner of the vast web, I just prayed that my positive messages have brought some glimmer of hope to those who needed it.
