One of the beautiful things to come out of this strange, strange time is how connected we’ve all become. The challenges that we are facing are our own, but the enemy is the same. Everybody across the globe has been, will be, or is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. To a point, we understand what one another is going through.

But I wanted—want—to understand what people are experiencing on a deeper, personal level. Sure, so many of us are stressed about our health and that of our loved ones, about our finances and the crumbling global economy, by our periods of isolation and restricted freedoms, but what else? How are you personally impacted by the coronavirus pandemic?

I posed this question to friends, families, and strangers and asked if they might write letters in response. I love letters because they are unpretentious. Authentic. They provide a snapshot in time, offer us a glimpse into someone’s day-to-day life. They tend to be more revealing than text messages, phone calls, or emails. Writing them is therapeutic. Reading them is therapeutic. Really, I wish that we all sent each other letters more often.

Today, I’m sharing letters from myself, Amelia, Lizzie, Lucy, Julie, and Bron. Women who are quarantined in Nicaragua, California, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Tasmania, Australia. Women who are facing isolation in the tropics, women who are mitigating the disruption of work and regular life, who are trying to stay occupied during the suspension of school, who are about to give birth for the first time, who have elderly parents to care for, who are all just trying to stay healthy and sane.

I hope you enjoy reading these letters as much as I did. And, please, I would love to keep this going, so if you would like to write a letter, please email it to me at svthisldu@gmail.com.

Stay healthy out there.

Written by Liz O’Carroll in Bend, Oregon, this letter originally appeared on misfitwell.com.

Written by Bron Hogan in Tasmania, Australia, this letter originally appeared on bronhogan.com.