At the beginning of the pandemic, I was not worried about my mental health or how I would cope with lockdown. As an introvert, I genuinely thought this will not be a big deal for me. I am a young-ish person in reasonably good health, so I was not worried about getting sick. This will be my Olympics, my time to shine.
I was wrong.
It’s one thing to stay inside all day because you want to, it’s quite another because you have to. Add to that doomscrolling and my tendency toward rumination, I found myself falling into what I call, a Covid Hole. Everyday started to feel like it had the same flavor. It was like each day was a sad, sad Groundhog Day.
I can’t really explain why exactly, but I started crawling my way out of this dark pit in September. Maybe it was the realization that I needed to cut myself some slack. Maybe it was the timing – I love fall. Whatever the reason, here are a few things I’ve done that have helped my mental health.
Get Out There
Get out where? Anywhere. The “where” doesn’t matter, just change your environment and ideally, see people and hang out with friends if you can. At some point, I decided to put my mask on and just go outside.
Meeting friends for coffee and was such a breath of fresh air to talk and enjoy their company. I became used to seeing masked faces and returned to my pre-Covid retail habits. I spent hours at Barnes & Noble and Target, my happy places. Even professional networking made me feel better. The chance to socialize lifted my did wonders for my mental health.
Human beings are social creatures, even the introverted ones. I realized I need more social interaction than I thought. Just call me a “talkative” introvert.
Accept the Transience of Life
I heard a tip once that helps my mental health: when you find yourself in a stressful situation, add “for now” to the end of that sentence. Work is so busy and stressful, for now. Fighting with my computer is driving me crazy, for now.
Everything comes and goes, the good and the bad. Wishing for bad things to stop happening is like trying to stop the ocean with your bare hands. The ocean, life, is going to do what it wants to do. Accept that waves come and go.
Ask for Help
I’m not saying I am great at delegating, but asking for help, is … well, helpful. You are not alone in this, so ask for help – from your family and your co-workers.
Look Forward to Something
Whether that something is big or small, it’s a joy to have something to look forward to. For me, I’ve been looking forward to coffee with friends and on a much bigger front, the impending birth of my brother’s first child. Her name is Elise but I like to call her Baby Gregorio. Thinking about my impending role as “Fun Aunt” lightens my mood and helps my mental health.
I hope these ideas, while not groundbreaking, were helpful for you. As someone whose everyday life always has a small hum of nervousness around it, I know it’s hard sometimes to pull yourself out of rut. But it can be done. You can find the joy and you can ask for help. The main thing is believing that you can feel better.
Go build yourself a sturdy raft and find some excellent first mates. It may feel awkward. It might even make you feel nervous – trying new things can do that sometimes. But that feeling will go away and I can almost guarantee you that you will feel better.