Finding Yourself in a Pandemic World

Doodling, painting, art, and journaling helps us find ourselves. Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/VlXlW77swwY

I have to say that it’s been some time since I’ve felt so anxious and stressed.

When I was raising my little boys all alone, stress and anxiety about every little unknown thing out there rested heavily on my shoulders, so stress and anxiety were my twin bosom buddies.

But my boys are grown up now and for some time, I’ve had the liberty of not having to know whether they ate their vegetables or not, nor do I have to help them shower anymore. They’re self-feeding, self-cleaning people now.

It’s liberating.

However, with that said, the COVID-19 Pandemic has brought life almost to a complete halt on some fronts, turning things upside down for many of us.

Schedules are no longer certain, we don’t know whether stores or diners would be open or closed, and if we’re doing enough to keep ourselves safe from becoming infected. For a while, working outside of the home or going out for meetings were no worries as long as I ensured everything was prepared ahead of time and my boys knew what to do when I was out.

I still had to nag a little but it’s nothing compared to what I had to do before. They also make great company for grocery shopping trips, help out with the laundry, and they do a decent job at taking the garbage out.

The World is Getting Confusing the Noisy Again

The Pandemic has turned our daily lives into a whirlwind of changes and uncertainty.

Every time I read the news, there’s noise, overwhelming confusion, and they’re all pretty hard to ignore even if I tried. This has brought the anxiety and stress back into the picture. We all have obligations, appointments to keep, bills to pay, and work commitments and the panic mode that the Pandemic has brought on has only heightened those feelings of overwhelm.

Not only are we rushing around in the hamster wheel, something unknown is always chasing us. The virus.

If before this we could run our lives on autopilot, or like clockwork, the noise of uncertainty throws our clearly-outlined plans out of balance. We no longer know what certainty is anymore.