STAYING POSITIVE IN A WORLD FULL OF DOUBT
The world is a scary place right now. Thousands of positive cases of COVID-19 continue to rise every day. While quarantine rules have seemed to become more suggested than enforced, we are still finding ourselves scared to leave our own homes. As someone who is affected by long-term medical complications due to having Brain Cancer over 10+ years ago, I find myself scared to walk down the street or go grocery shopping in fear that I might catch something. At this time, almost everyone you see feels like the enemy. You never know who might be hiding this horrible Coronavirus beneath their thin veil of a face mask. As our streets continue to look more like battlegrounds for medical warfare, most of us continue to lock ourselves back up in our homes and seek shelter from the storm, awaiting the moment we are allowed to emerge from our safe houses and return to everyday life.
Though we may feel safe, we are forgetting to maintain our mental health. I am starting to feel the drag of quarantine as I am typically a social person, always making plans to go out with friends or sit at the corner coffee shop to work on writing or future creative projects. Now with the dangers of this disease afoot many people are finding it difficult to keep occupied or stay positive. Reports of suicide and depression have spiked over the past 4 months as we are all finding it hard to stay focused in hope that all of this will be over soon.
While the days of quarantine drag on, it is imperative that we all try to find a way to keep ourselves busy. Even those who have had the unfortunate matter of losing their jobs or being laid off due to the inevitability of social distancing or nonessential job statuses are seeking new hobbies. As an artist myself, I have discovered new ways to create art or experiment with the supplies I already have. I have actually found a new appreciation for Diamond Painting which originally seemed tedious at best. My closest friend currently works with the public and with the possible chance of catching something she picked up from a customer, I haven’t been able to see her for 4 months now. Though we have not been able to hang out or go to dinner for this long, we have texted each other every day and still continue to stay close even if we physically cannot come in contact. It’s times like these where we must also realize the importance of family. For those that cannot text like the older family members in my life, simply picking up the phone and calling them can lighten up the solemn mood and bring a smile to their face. I know many people that have scheduled Zoom or Skype calls in order to communicate with their families, allowing them to still see each other even if only digitally, so while you cannot see them in person you can still continue to remain close.
Mental health is important, especially in today’s world and current situation. Not only are we struggling to stay physically safe, we must also stay positive mentally. In order to keep yourself occupied I strongly suggest learning a new hobby or maybe picking up that ball of yarn and knitting yourself a scarf you haven’t thought about in years. Watch some YouTube or binge that new show on Netflix you’ve been putting off. Maybe pick up the phone and call a friend you’ve been thinking about. Trying to keep in contact with people can seem hard when you can’t actually see them in person, but always try to stay positive, keep yourself occupied, and most importantly remember that you are not alone because we can get through this together!