Alix Lane
We are all well into the first full year of this global pandemic; with the looming date in March approaching when the world shut down, we will have officially been in this mess for a year. It is almost impossible to fathom a full year of wearing masks, social distancing, and slowing down to an almost unbearable speed. I won’t sugar-coat it, everything about this virus has been awful, and I know that we must all adhere to the protocol to keep us all safe, but I can’t help but wonder what has been the real cost of this pandemic?
Let’s start with mental health. I believe next to the physical health concerns of the virus, mental health has been something people have been quietly suffering with. There is no doubt a mental health crisis occurring simultaneously alongside the virus affecting millions of people. Those with already present mental health concerns and/or diagnosed illnesses have only had to deal with more hardship during lockdowns and limited social contact. Anxiety and depression at an all-time high, with feelings of loneliness and fear setting in on many households. As someone who personally finds it difficult under normal circumstances to stay motivated, happy, and productive, the way I now have to go about my days has been extremely hard. Planning a simple thing like going grocery shopping or walking with a friend getting coffee takes enormous amounts of energy. Usually, after said activity, I feel no desire to do anything productive for the rest of the day. I have had to seriously discipline myself and take a look at behaviours that impact my mood.
If you struggle with similar issues of motivation, my piece of advice is to start small. Try keeping your room clean, don’t leave dishes or garbage lying around, and try to do something outside for at least an hour. It can be hard to imagine that you will ever feel put together or motivated for longer than a couple of days at a time, but I promise the more you do it, the more you can change your mindset, and soon it becomes a part of your routine without you even noticing.
I really have little advice for those of us sorry souls who are in university during this pandemic. But I am here to sympathize with anybody feeling like this past year has felt like the longest uphill hike you’ve ever had to attempt when it comes to completing your work from a bedroom, trying to teach yourself things, or having to endure zoom classes. I feel little joy from the actual ‘learning’ of schoolwork but do like completing it as it makes me feel like I have at least some parts of my life together.
When it comes to socializing, as someone who is both extraverted and introverted, I often go back and forth from feeling quite relieved that I’m not obligated to see people all the time but then feeling like I should be trying to be busy with the people I can see and trying to have “quarantine fun” like bar crawls turned room crawls. It gets exhausting, and I guess if anything good has come from lockdown is, I no longer experience FOMO (fear of missing out). I generally feel comfortable doing things by myself and not worrying about what other people are doing.
Lastly, this pandemic has affected people differently based on their situation. What I mean by this is the kind of living conditions you have, and the support system of people around you have most likely affected everyone differently. If you moved home as an adult, it can be hard adjusting to life with family again, or if you are in a student house, it can either be full of people that make the pandemic bearable or not. If I can say anything to make you think differently about the pandemic, there are two ways of looking at it. You can either let the circumstances of this virus take advantage of you, or you can take advantage of the circumstance this virus has put you in. It will end, and in the meantime, we can know that we are doing our part to keep people safe.
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