Emotions of a Pandemic

Have you been feeling the drain of this pandemic? Some are worried about coming in contact with someone that might be holding the virus. Some worry their rights are being taken away.  Others have it set that it is not so bad. There are people with all kinds of emotions and worries. I’m concerned about the long term emotional state people will be in with reduced contact and  people being on alert all the time. Ways to help you manage with pandemic fatigue.

We are dealing with less structure and more formalities. Many of us have pandemic fatigue and burn out. I see it in the elderly and in the young, I see it in the rebels and conformists. We all are tired. The people that have been out of work or modified work settings. Working from home, zoom calls the constant state of being ‘on’. For all teachers and students that do online studies, learning new technologies or dealing with the emotional and fundamental challenges.

My family had many work changes. One lost a job at a restaurant, one had changed and reduced hours, some are working from home and my career changed all together!

People have not been able to do recreational things like swimming or vacations. Even things like medical appointments and rehabilitation have been changed. Always needing to wash our hands or use hand sanitizer. If you are going anywhere remembering your mask. 

Then the people that almost shun any that need to not wear a mask. The emotions and anger build. I have noted that people are way more frustrated 

How we once dealt with stress has changed, now we are having a very hard time coping. We miss our friends and our outings, we miss how life was.

One of the things I’m finding no matter how you view this pandemic we all have a point that we see it from. We have it splashed all over our social media, if you’re in public, you see the signs, you see the billboard, at the middle of the pandemic in Canada, even our parks/playground were not accessible. Much of the world was confined to their homes, not even allowed to go to the market to buy groceries. It is affecting places of worship and clubs. People feel lonely. Any with borderline functioning mental health challenges are falling in harder and the in person help that was a massive outlet for many is now a phone or video appointment. 

So for those that would like to take in some of the physical things, There are many pools and gyms that are booking times with people. Just phone your local places and ask what the protocol is for whatever you would like to be part of. I was surprised that so many things were still able to accommodate. In The summer of 2020 we were even able to meet our family from a different household at a restaurant, we called the restaurant ahead of time and asked if we could have tables that allowed us to social distance and still see each other, they made that happen. We had a safer meal out, thank you to Denny’s!

What can you do to ease the blahs of the pandemic?

Find new music

Cook a new recipe

Treat yourself to a ordered in meal or do take out

Call someone/send a card or a letter

Watch a funny movie or show or a virtual play

Online puzzles

Try an online tour of something that interests you.

Get rid of 5 things you no longer use.

Be kind to yourself, we sadly don’t know when this will end, we are in this world together lets be kind to yourself and others. If you’re having a hard time please seek help. You are valuable.