Along with everyone else, my family and I are adjusting to the new world with COVID-19 in it. The couple of weeks have been chaotic as our family adjusts to a different way of life. I was busy at work for my day job setting up computers so people could work from home and worried about getting the task done as soon as possible. The next challenge is focusing on that job to keep our tiny business going while the world also deals with the pandemic.
In the meantime, my husband and son are adjusting. We already had a socially distant lifestyle due to our introversion and autism in our family. Shopping has been a challenge, we’re adjusting our plans so we go out as little as possible. We have plenty of food, yet it is frustrating to not be able to run errands as often as we would like to. An added challenge is the inability to find everything on our list due to shortages. Store supplies are starting to return to normal as people have built their stock of food and other items for two weeks but there are still some glitches in the system.
This current situation brings out some of my feelings of anxiety and depression. I do have a toolset to deal with those feelings, here are some things I do to cope when I feel overwhelmed by the current situation.
- Allow myself moments to feel my emotions and not try to hide them.
- Give myself permission to take naps during the day
- Remember to be kind to myself and to let go of my ideas of productivity that don’t apply right now.
- When I am overwhelmed by what’s happening, I take a breath, let it out, then take another. I keep doing that, until I feel able to keep moving forward. Eventually I find the other side of the strong emotions and the ability to move forward again.
A wish that everyone stay healthy and stays safe, everyone is in my thoughts right now as we keep moving forward.
Pictures by J.T. Harpser, prints of his pictures can be purchased at https://shellcreek.redbubble.com/
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