Blog Post 2: A New Hope
Admittedly, my last post was probably a little bleak. It probably is pretty good insight into my current mindset. I debated revising it, but ultimately decided against that. Therapists are just like everyone else, and have the same thoughts, emotions, struggles, and setbacks. I encourage my clients to live a full and authentic life, and should hold myself to the same standards.
What I will do is offer this post as a way to help those who might be having a bit more trouble right now than usual.
Know your triggers. I mentioned in my last post that I threw out a bottle of conditioner (one that was half-full, mind you) because I couldn’t take the memories associated with it. Triggers will look different for everyone. For some people that might mean setting boundaries with loved ones who seem to talk about nothing but the pandemic. Identifying what makes you feel particularly anxious is a good way to figure out how to manage it ahead of time.
Perform social media cleanse. The little tidbit of advice is offered everywhere, but with good reason. Social media was already being linked to increases in depression and anxiety before the pandemic. When lockdowns happened, there was a surge in downloads of platforms like TikTok, as isolated people felt a desperate need to connect. Now, I love social media. I engage with social media on a daily basis. I think it can be a tremendously helpful way to share life updates with friends, laugh at funny memes, and network professionally. However, I have learned to recognize the difference between content that is genuinely helpful and when I’m just hate-following. Every so often I go through my accounts and disengage from accounts that have no personal value to me anymore or set off any unpleasant reactions. Does someone’s political rants annoy me? Unfollow. Does this person make me feel insecure about my own life situation? Unfollow. Am I being reminded somehow of a past I’d like to move on from? Unfollow. I’ve become ruthless with that unfollow button, meaning my Follow List has become a relatively close circle of people I genuinely like and memes about mental health/growing up in the 90s. Oh, and for those accounts you can’t unfollow because it would instigate some sort of inner-group civil war? Let the mute button become your best friend.
Control your news intake. I know people who leave the news on for HOURS everyday. I understand the need to feel informed, but there is a certain point when it just becomes sensory overload. I noticed this most recently during the riots at the Capitol in January. With the one-year mark coming up, expect lots of news coverage reviewing this past year and all the trauma that went along with it. Compassion fatigue is a real thing, and very often the news can be a cause of it. Get your daily news updates (from various sources, with varying viewpoints, if possible) and move on with your day. I actually prefer written news sources because I find it less sensational.
Be mindful of your physical needs. If we do not meet our physical needs, it is impossible to meet our emotional needs. This month be especially mindful of your nutrition and sleep. Aim for foods that will help your body feel good in the long term, like a variety of fruits and vegetables, lots of protein, and healthy carbohydrates to your energy levels up. Avoid overconsumption of processed foods, fast foods, and sodas. Focus on your water intake, because too many of us are chronically dehydrated. We need water not just for our physical body, but also for our brain. Our brains need water to produce certain neurotransmitters, like serotonin, the happy chemical. Dehydration also triggers an anxious physiological response in our body, which makes us ripe for panic attacks. Drink your water. Get enough sleep at night, because sleep is when your brain is able to download all of the day’s information into your long-term drive and make any necessary repairs throughout your body. Your body wants to heal itself. Let it.
Practice some form of self-care. Ideally, practice various forms of self-care. Exercise several times a week, which is proven to be a wonderful way to manage both anxiety and depression. Engage in some form of work for the soul, whether it’s through guided meditation, prayer, or journaling. All of these activities help us slow down our thought processes and turn our gaze inward. Journaling especially is a useful way to purge overwhelming thoughts or feelings from your brain onto a piece of paper. Aim for consistency over perfection. If your goal is to exercise 4 times a week but you only did 2, acknowledge the hiccup but be sure to get back on track the next day. It is way too easy to let one missed day turn into an entire missed month. Be wary of that.
Acknowledge how far you’ve come. Folks, this has been a year. It has been a year that walloped us but good. And yet here we are, still. If you’re reading this, you are still here, doing your best to survive this thing with as little damage as possible. Some days are going to feel great, other days it might be hard to get out of bed. But that doesn’t change the fight you have put up for a year just to get to this place. I’m sure many of you had to reach down and find strength or discipline you didn’t know you had. Acknowledge the victories, be they huge or tiny. Acknowledge the days you got work done despite being exhausted and depressed. Recognize the resilience you have developed over these 12 months. Just as there is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, there is Post Traumatic Resilience. Often it takes a crisis or trauma to realize how much strength we have hidden away. When we go through tough times and come out the other side, we demonstrate a new level of resilience, of which we were previously unaware. Celebrate that, because you have certainly earned it.
There is hope. The vaccines are here. Millions of people are getting vaccinated daily. There are some places that are offering vaccines 24/7. Doctors and scientists are working endlessly to identify potential new strains and how to address them. We are not where we were a year ago, 6 months ago, or even 1 month ago. Pandemics do not last forever. Eventually this too shall pass.