{"id":61388,"date":"2020-08-12T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2707866"},"modified":"2020-08-12T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T17:00:00","slug":"how-social-distancing-turned-me-into-a-heartie-aka-a-when-calls-the-heart-superfan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/08\/12\/how-social-distancing-turned-me-into-a-heartie-aka-a-when-calls-the-heart-superfan\/","title":{"rendered":"How Social Distancing Turned Me Into a Heartie (aka a When Calls the Heart Superfan)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"WHEN<\/p>\n
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Having an anxiety disorder means I spend way too much time catastrophizing mundane situations like dinner with friends or a case of the sniffles (WebMD is not my friend), but even my fear-focused mind couldn’t conjure up a situation like the coronavirus pandemic. To say it’s been hard to turn off my brain, or simply keep the constant hum of panic on a low frequency, would be an understatement. But there’s one thing that’s helped sooth my anxious soul: the Hallmark series When Calls the Heart<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I began watching When Calls the Heart<\/strong>, a series about a schoolteacher named Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow) who moves to the remote town of Hope Valley in the early 1900s, a few months before the pandemic began. As a child, I grew up on a steady diet of Anne of Green Gables<\/strong>, Little House on the Prairie<\/strong>, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman<\/strong>. I love wholesome stories about women who are far stronger than their society expects them to be that also happen to be set in picture-perfect small towns. When Calls the Heart<\/strong> is certainly a modern descendant of those shows. When Elizabeth first moves to Hope Valley (originally known as Coal Valley), she feels completely out of place. Nearly every woman in the town has lost a husband or son to a devastating mining incident, leaving them as the breadwinners of their families. By contrast, the naive Elizabeth, who has lived a life of privilege and wealth, manages to burn down her new house within hours of arriving in the town. That’s the level of relatability I look for in a character.<\/p>\n

As you might have gathered, Elizabeth doesn’t immediately adapt to the Canadian frontier lifestyle, but she commits herself to the town’s children and finds a strong network of support in their mothers, led by the fierce widow Abigail Stanton (played by Lori Loughlin before her role in the 2019 college admissions scandal<\/a> led to her abrupt exit from the show). Over time, Elizabeth learns to cook for herself, to ride a horse, and to chase her own dreams of being a writer. Along the way, she falls in love and becomes one of the most pivotal members in a community full of loving and supportive neighbors.<\/p>\n

\"WHEN<\/p>\n