worries – This is where it starts

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.

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

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.

When a blogger is racking their brain on topics, it looks a bit like an overpass traffic jam on the highway or interstate. Things like Love that aches, in the last months I did a topic on What is Love. Where does recycling go and how to clean your appliances are some of the topics that bang around in my head. Sitting in my vehicle I thought “What motivates us as humans?” Then I thought “What is motivation?” So I went to Google, this is what a broad search showed me. “The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”

How do we start

Have a general desire or willingness.
Set goals, small steps will get you somewhere.
Don’t give up or lose sight of what you want.

One thing I was motivated to do is learn to play guitar. I have a membership to Great Courses. I’m trying to make a goal to do more lessons than I’m getting done. Staying motivated is not an easy task. I found a class on beginners guitars. The class is called Learning to Play Guitar: Chords, Scales and Solos. I told myself, I will start with just watching the class and not take out the guitar. I have watched one class. I’m really trying to be inspired to finish it. I’m not getting any alone time in the home, and I’m a bit self conscious about trying and having others hear me. I will need to work very hard on myself to get past my worries.

I think a lot of us become stumped by self-images and fears. Past disappointments can change our heart’s abilities to stay motivated.

I often think “what if someone dislikes something about it?” This mindset will not let us move forward.

Watching people in jobs or relations that are unhappy. Why.. We humans sometimes struggle with changes. Sometimes the cons don’t outweigh the pros. If there is a risk it puts a little red alert light in our thoughts. Sometimes even good changes still alert out brains.

Motivation doesn’t always look smooth. Sometimes it is like clearing all the stones away from around the mountain just to climb it.

If you are feeling low or depressed, the struggle to stay motivated is much harder. You are worth it please keep trying. Ask a trusted person in your life to please ask you how you are doing with your motivation. Encouragement can help people feel less alone. Not always better.

You might need a short distraction as you recharge your motivation. Found a little game. Please if you are going to use a distraction, set a short 5 to 10 min timer and then regroup to the task at hand.

Being a blogger is not as easy as one who has not blogged might think. Somedays the thought of giving up writing my blog would be better. The self doubt that crawls out of it’s dark space pokes out like a whack a mole game. My worries are people might not be interested, maybe no one will benefit from my ideas.

Here is what keeps me going.

People reflecting they read the blog, sharing if they liked or found a spark that inspired them.

My positive self talk must be brighter than my self doubt.

I remind myself research feeds my soul.

Finding amazing pictures that enhance the words that I write makes me feel good.

Being able to share the art and other talented writers in my blog. I love to lift others.

It is a brain challenge, I believe so strongly in use it or it deteriorates. Yes it is hard.

I’m thankful for any that read what I share. Thank you for being motivated. I would like to hear your struggles and strengths with modification in your life.

Tag: worries

Emotions of a Pandemic

Motivation Struggles and Strategies.