Everything has on some level gotten back to normal for me.
I’m back in my pre-COVID/social justice uprising routine; working, blogging, pretending to clean the house lol and while on the outside I’m functioning, I still feel off. I feel like my brain is one jumbled mess and my thoughts are all over the place. And it’s because our world is all over the place. I feel like I have so much to say and nothing to say at all. There are days I want to express myself and others I just want to lock myself in the room and never come out again. My anxiety is at an all-time high at times and my optimism about things getting better comes and goes in very sharp waves
If you’re feeling like me and need a few ways to cope during this time, I wanted to share a few things I’ve been doing to work through this. This is still very much a work in progress and I’m not out of the woods, but it’s helping give me a measure of peace.
Writing. I wouldn’t call myself a writer by any means, but putting my thoughts on paper, notes app on my phone, or creating drafts of blog posts that I revisit from time to time and building on them have been helpful. Now my writing has been all over the place, but it’s an accurate representation of my mind right now.
Limits. I’ve had to put a limit on how much news I was consuming about everything. I watch CBS This Morning while I eat breakfast and get ready for work, I will watch The View mid-day and may read an article or two in the evening and that’s it. I find that limiting my consumption of the news has started to help clear my mental space for other things.
Walks. When I was in the height of lock-down, I needed to find some time to escape from my four walls. I was juggling my full-time job, a freelance job, and my blog PLUS getting the boy comfortable with school from home and it was all too much. I found a walk helped to clear my head and relax me so I could get through the rest of my day. I stopped when I went back to working in my office, but I have to revisit it.
YouTube. My cousin jokes I’ve turned in to a teenager with all the YouTube I’ve been consuming but I can really go down a rabbit hole and sometimes it’s good too just get lost. On my walks, I love to listen to channels that talk about productivity, business, finances, and fashion. When I’m in the house cooking dinner and cleaning, I love a good drama channel and videos of people reading Reddit post; don’t judge me lol!
Laughing. It’s been a joy to poke fun at the current state of things. Finding humor and others laughing and joking along with me has given me comfort in an odd way. If this was a movie there is no way I would be laughing or think it was real for that matter, but it’s nice to poke fun at it sometimes. The old saying “You have to laugh to keep from crying” has never resonated more. When I’m feeling down I either create or consume funny videos to make me smile.
I know these are trying times for us all and it seems like it will never get better, but we have to keep holding on to hope that it will. I hope some of the theses exercises help as you make your way through this time.
I got your back!
XOXO,
Shanna