Pandemic Anxiety
I am trying ever so hard not to have the coronavirus dominate every conversation I have and every post I make... but it’s incredibly difficult! The virus is all anyone wants to talk about. It’s all they’re thinking about. It’s looming over some like a dark cloud and itching unhappily in the back of other’s minds. But I swear, in the last week, there’s not been an untroubled or unburdened or unconcerned person anywhere around me.
And then it hit me.
Everyone out there... they way you’re feeling: the tension in your shoulders, the doomsday dread in your thoughts, the tangled of knots in your stomach, the nightmares and fears, the wariness and suspicion and trepidation constantly clinging to you... Welcome to my world. Welcome to the world of anxiety.
My brain CONSTANTLY tells me there’s something wrong or that something bad is about to happen. It makes me struggle to concentrate, struggle to remain calm, struggle to do normal, everyday things. And it makes me hate grocery stores haha. Now everyone is having those exact same problems. It sucks, doesn’t it?! I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, I really wouldn’t. Anxiety, depression, panic attacks, PTSD... they’re no laughing matter.
Which is my point!
I hope that, in the future, after the virus has run its course and the medical and financial base of our world has been righted, that y’all will still remember the terrible anxiety you felt while all this was going on. And that your memory will translate into understanding and compassion for those who live with anxiety every single day... whether or not there’s a pandemic happening.
Be good to each other. Be patient. Be kind. And don’t forget the hardships you’ve been through— instead let them teach you lessons of humility and unity.
