Checking In: Mental Health and COVID-19

It’s May 1st and according to the mayor of Los Angeles (where I live), shelter-in-place is mandated for another 15 days due to COVID-19. Personally, I think I can duke it out another two weeks. I’ve already got six weeks skin in the game… Or is it seven now? I lost count. 

Although I have adjusted to this new way of life, I can’t even lie… I feel the urge to break some laws. Like go to the beach, go on a hike, do some yoga at the park. I’m proud to say I’m not a science denier, so I’ve resisted any and all public spaces unless it is essential. That has been a big hump to get over because I live less than five miles from the beach. And I LOVE the beach. Undoubtedly, it’s been a challenge.

The first few weeks of home-isolation were particularly hard on me. Before Coronavirus, my home was my sanctuary. It was the place I most looked forward to when my eight hours at the office were done. Then it became a jail cell. Even though my apartment is spacious, particularly for a one-bedroom apartment, looking at the same four walls day after day was killing me. 

Being confined to the home for long periods of time can really mess with a person’s mental health. Especially in an era where new information about the virus, its impact on the economy, and its effects on public health, is rapidly changing and mostly bleak. Apparently Beyonce understands this too. She donated $6 million in aid toward mental health resources – because all of this is overwhelming!

I’ll confess, the first week LA was placed on shelter-at-home, I deleted Facebook and Twitter off of my phone. Extreme? Yes, maybe just a little bit. But I had to because there was nothing, literally nothing, positive regarding COVID-19 on either of those platforms. I needed to give the news a break.

I won’t go into too many details but I will say that I experienced setbacks due to Coronavirus. It was hard to find optimism when it seemed like all the potential gains I was working towards in 2020 (including the continuation of this blog) were going to have to take a backseat until further notice. The negative outcome of this pandemic was exhausting for me to say the least.  

After a few days of not knowing how to deal, I decided it was time to re-calibrate how I was going to make the most of staying home. I got focused. I made some commitments to myself and promised not to break them. I redirected all my concerns, self-loathing and negative energy into fueling my goals.

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The first thing on my to-do was to start sweating again. Embarrassed to say, but before quarantine I hadn’t exercised since 2019. My mostly sedentary job on top of an inconsistent diet didn’t help either. My weight was creeping up so I had to get honest with myself. I was being lazy, and I was using my commute and job as an excuse not to exercise. Since working from home was mandated, I let those excuses go and hunkered down. Six weeks later, I’ve managed to lose some fluff and have no plans to stop progress anytime soon.

The second major task was to revamp my resume. The harsh reality of earning a master’s degree in a specified field and then NOT working in that field had been bothering me for some time now. I knew there were gaps in my resume that likely turned recruiters away. So I took a full day to craft a resume that would be hard to ignore. Then I got organized, applying to “dream job” companies first, fellowships second, then moving on to low-hanging-fruit opportunities. I’m still waiting for that dream-job recruiter to bite but I remain focused until that happens.

Still thinking about how to take advantage of this down-time, I knew I needed to refine my tops skills – give them a makeover. So I signed up for free online courses through my county and city library memberships. Obviously, writing is more than a hobby at this point (in case you didn’t notice), so I enrolled in a class specifically for writing and publishing. Being a travel addict means I also take a million travel photos… so naturally I enrolled in a digital photography class specifically for travel photography. Then I signed up for a grant writing class since this is a skill many jobs I’m applying for require. And they’re all free… so why not?

Underneath these bigger projects, there are those little to-do’s I make happen. I’ve been writing more. I’ve been checking in on friends and mentors who I haven’t talked to in a while. I’ve finally been moisturizing my curly hair on a more consistent basis. And even though it seems silly, I’ve been making sure to apply my eyelash growth serum every night before bed. P.S., the serum is working!  

Right now is the perfect time to take advantage of self-discipline since we can afford the extra time. But more importantly, to check in with ourselves and manage our mental health. Am I still worried about this virus? Yes. Do I find myself in spouts of frustration? Absolutely. Will I let this consume me? No.

Bottom line: what keeps me from falling off the deep end during this pandemic is staying busy, staying hungry, and striving towards my benchmarks.

We’ll check back in two weeks.

Check out my previous post: Four DIY Travel Projects to Fight Quarantine Boredom