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17) Spend some time every day on something that is NOT the pandemic, and don't worry too much about what.
This echoes some earlier ones, but I feel like I really cannot say it enough: you need to have something you are thinking and feeling about other than Covid-19.
And by "need to" I don't mean that it's not possible to spend every waking hour focused on the pandemic, because it absolutely is. There is more than enough news, Twitter, and random things to notice looking out your window for you to spend absolutely every second and brain cell on it. I just think you shouldn't, because you will feel terrible and exhausted.
So in service of this, it's useful to have something else that is taking up space in your thoughts and feelings. There are so many options, and it's important thing to note that almost any option that gets your mind on something else is about equally useful for this purpose. Like, if the pandemic is inspiring in you tremendous drive for arts or crafts or politics or inventing educational games with your kids, that's awesome. Also, if the pandemic is inspiring in you the desire to sit down and rewatch all of Leverage, that is also awesome. What's most important thing is that it helps you feel some emotions other than fear, and think some thoughts other than dire possibilities and casualty lists.
I know that some people see others gravitating towards things that are considered more "productive" or "creative" or whatever, and feel bad about it. I want to really, really emphasize that being productive is not the point. We're all doing our best to get through a very difficult time, and different people are drawn to different things to make sure that they have something to focus on other than the traumatic one.
If you find yourself wishing you were being drawn to something different, then my best advice is to just keep doing the thing you are drawn to. Do it a lot. Do it until you feel replenished and less stressed, and maybe even bored with it, because then you might have the mental and emotional energy to be drawn to something else. But this is not the time to second-guess your subconscious, and if what your subconscious says is that you should alphabetize your spices, then by all the gods, get alphabetizing.
The thing you are producing, the thing you are creating, is a self who has gotten through the pandemic. That will be more than enough of an accomplishment.
--R
This echoes some earlier ones, but I feel like I really cannot say it enough: you need to have something you are thinking and feeling about other than Covid-19.
And by "need to" I don't mean that it's not possible to spend every waking hour focused on the pandemic, because it absolutely is. There is more than enough news, Twitter, and random things to notice looking out your window for you to spend absolutely every second and brain cell on it. I just think you shouldn't, because you will feel terrible and exhausted.
So in service of this, it's useful to have something else that is taking up space in your thoughts and feelings. There are so many options, and it's important thing to note that almost any option that gets your mind on something else is about equally useful for this purpose. Like, if the pandemic is inspiring in you tremendous drive for arts or crafts or politics or inventing educational games with your kids, that's awesome. Also, if the pandemic is inspiring in you the desire to sit down and rewatch all of Leverage, that is also awesome. What's most important thing is that it helps you feel some emotions other than fear, and think some thoughts other than dire possibilities and casualty lists.
I know that some people see others gravitating towards things that are considered more "productive" or "creative" or whatever, and feel bad about it. I want to really, really emphasize that being productive is not the point. We're all doing our best to get through a very difficult time, and different people are drawn to different things to make sure that they have something to focus on other than the traumatic one.
If you find yourself wishing you were being drawn to something different, then my best advice is to just keep doing the thing you are drawn to. Do it a lot. Do it until you feel replenished and less stressed, and maybe even bored with it, because then you might have the mental and emotional energy to be drawn to something else. But this is not the time to second-guess your subconscious, and if what your subconscious says is that you should alphabetize your spices, then by all the gods, get alphabetizing.
The thing you are producing, the thing you are creating, is a self who has gotten through the pandemic. That will be more than enough of an accomplishment.
--R
