How To Cope With 2021

It’s 6 am on a Friday morning as I’m writing this blog post and the world is quiet. But it has been that way for a while now. Quiet but chaotic. This pandemic officially started in March 2020. I use the term ‘officially’ because everyone knows that the virus was circulating in countries across the globe well before March 2020. However, we were ‘officially’ notified of this in March 2020. I remember sitting in Washington D.C. with my roommate at the time, sipping on our relaxation tea in our PJs when we first heard the announcement.

In the months that followed, life as we know it changed. Streets that were normally packed turned empty and there was a sense of heaviness in the air. No matter what I did I couldn’t shake it off and that shit started to take a toll on me. Mentally — I would tune out of my current reality. Physically — I had gained a shit tonne of weight and couldn’t care less about it. Emotionally — I had broken down in a Trader Joe’s aisle. Twice in a month already.

As I’m typing this, we are in August 2021. So you can say we are well over a year into what feels like a never-ending bad horror movie and most of us are sick of it. We are frustrated at turning on the T.V. and seeing COVD-19 headlines. We are annoyed at the constant pandemic news feeds that have now saturated our social media platforms, and exhausted by conversations revolving under lockdown.

At times like this, it is hard to feel optimistic and for most of us, coping with everything seems impossible. Day-to-day tasks take twice the effort and you go through more mood swings than a prepubescent teenager.

How to Cope When It Seems Like the World Is Coming to an End

1. Create a Travel Board for Local Destinations

This can be travel/destination itinerary/board can consist of locations ranging from your local national park to a Airbnb at a local farm just a couple of hours outside of the city you live in. I don’t know about you, but my personal Pinterest board is filled with random locations that I’d like to visit, that won’t require a flight.

2. Accept This New Normal and Create a Routine That Accommodates to This

I’m a big fan of morning routines and YouTube vloggers with aesthetic videos may or may not be the reason to blame for this. Just kidding.

Jokes aside. Find a part of the day that you love the most and create a soothing around it. For some that may be the mornings, afternoons, or in most cases the evening/late nights.

I love the mornings because of the stillness around them. Every day (including weekends) I wake up between 6:15 am — 7:00 am and tune out the rest of the world. I’ll make a warm cup of coffee, read a couple of chapters on my kindle, journal, meditate and avoid my phone like the plague.

But some people roll over 5-minutes before 9 am and log into their Zoom meetings.

And that is okay too. If that works for you do that.

But take some time out to carve 15–30 minutes a day where you do tasks that soothe your mind and body. Doesn’t have to be the mornings because let’s face it. Some of us hate having to wake up early and have a complicated relationship with our snooze alarms.

3. Make It a Point to Socialize Even When You Don’t Want To

Before you come for me, hear me out. I get that socializing during this zombie apocalypse is hard. There are days when you don’t even want to hear another person breathe, let alone conjure up the energy to have a full-fledged conversation.

For some of us, human interaction may not even be an option. Especially if you are an inmate in Australia’s strict lockdown facilities. So I’m here to put your mind at ease by telling you that you don’t have to have a 20-minutes phone conversation if you don’t want to.

But a simple check-in text message could do wonders. For your mental health and your family/friends.

The best way to approach this is to allocate time to talk to a friend. I feel more energetic when I’ve spent 15–30minutes on a call with a friend that I can be completely transparent with, as opposed to 5 group chats with no substance.

And on those days where you feel like you want to shut out the rest of the world. Give yourself grace and let it be.

Finally, just realize that we as humans are capable of enduring more than we give ourselves credit for. While our definition of normal may have changed. We still have the ability to create calmness and structure amongst the chaos.