Photo: Tim Mossholder via Unsplash
Give yourself some time to escape the negativity.
By Unwritten — Written on Apr 14, 2020
By Emma Spear
If you follow the news these days, then you know that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives. Everyone around the country has changed their typical routines and everyone was told to stay home.
Instead of attending school every day, children are now homeschooled by their parents at their kitchen tables. Teachers now communicate with their students via Google Classroom, and college students now teach themselves their assigned material. Parents worry that they will lose their jobs as they remain home.
We panic over the lack of toilet paper, gloves, and hand sanitizer. Walking into grocery stores reminds us of a scene from a horror movie, while we worry that the person next to us is breaking the social distancing rule.
We stopped going to the park, beach, mall, and the movies. Instead, we are now sitting in our houses and moping around. We worry about not getting text messages from people while sleeping in until 3 PM and going to bed at 5 AM.
On top of that, watching the news is depressing as every single topic that is discussed is about COVID-19, we hear about people dying and the fact that we haven’t “flattened the curve” yet.
When it comes to social media, we share negative articles about the highest death rates and shutting down schools while spiraling down into deeper panic.
There’s so much negativity out there — when is it going to stop? In order to help my mental state, I deleted the Facebook app off my phone, because I am so sick of it.
Why do we need to keep sharing the negative news? What does it do for us? Absolutely nothing.
Yes, the times are extremely difficult right now. We are all dealing with it in our own ways, but we need to find some positivity.
What about the fact that by staying in we are helping to improve the situation? Is it a beautiful day out? Instead of complaining that you can’t go to the beach, go eat breakfast outside on your porch. Kick a ball around with your sibling, or draw on the sidewalk with chalk.
Do you think you have nothing to do? Stop complaining that you have too much time on your hands, and go download a book on Audible, or try to learn a new language on Duolingo.
You can also FaceTime an old friend or check in on those you’re worried about. There are so many things you can do instead.
As hard as it might be to grasp, this is the new normal for us.
We need to make the best out of this situation. Yes, it might be difficult — but this doesn’t have to be a completely negative situation.
Instead, think about how staying home is flattening the curve and stopping the spread of COVID-19. Think about how, when all this is over, we’ll be grateful that we remained inside.
We are all cooped up in our houses right now. It’s normal to feel anxious, depressed, bored or stressed.
So, do what you can to make light of the situation, and don’t be afraid to reach out if you need help. We’re all in this together.
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Emma Spear is a writer who focuses on health and wellness, mental health, and self-care. For more of her health and wellness content, visit her author profile on Unwritten.
This article was originally published at Unwritten. Reprinted with permission from the author.