2020 threw a curve ball to every living being old enough to understand what chaos is. The numerous months, weeks, days, hours minutes, and seconds that we have spent isolated from others has taken a toll on us both mentally and emotionally as well as financially and physically.
Mentally I was in a good space before Covid-19 came into our lives and turned it topsy-turvy. This pandemic has been forceful enough to send the World Health Organization into a frantic reaction mode.
Not that there was anything wrong with my attitude before but Covid-19 changed the world for everybody.
Isolation as a result of the necessarily imposed stay-at-home orders issued by state governments has created more mental challenges than any of us could ever imagine.
In the first few weeks of this pandemic it became apparent that the world as we knew it was rapidly on the verge of becoming like a scene from a movie. You would think that with so many movies and documentaries about outbreaks that WHO and world leaders would have had a better handle on this newest pandemic.
Although we are in the midst of vaccinating the world, many people are dealing with their state of mind after being isolated from families and friend for so long. Even coworkers are being missed as most people are working from home in their various fields.
Being stranded home for months on end will take a toll on our mental well-being. Even those of us who are retired are feeling stressed because we can’t get out and enjoy the time in our lives that we have anticipated since we started our first job…retirement!
Our tempers are easily elevated when we aren’t paying attention. Irritation becomes common place and anxiety has a table setting at the table. Both of these unwelcomed visitors arrived when we were focused on the life threatening affects of the pandemic.
Well, now is the time to take our mental state back, but better than ever. The changes experience due to the pandemic can be viewed in one of two ways 1) as an opportunity to learn something new from all that has happened and change the way we approach life or2) sing the ‘woe is me’ song and use the pandemic as an opportunity to take up residence in self pity and sit down and refuse to get back up.
This is a personal decision that only we can make for ourselves. New world circumstances calls for a new attitude which begins with a deep dive into our mindset. Are you moving forward with a new attitude or will you try to navigate life with the old one?