Emotionally Surviving COVID-19

You may be feeling things you have never felt before during this time and know your feelings are valid.

Wow. We are actually in a world pandemic thanks to a new strain of Corona virus known as COVID-19. This virus has quickly swept the world in a matter of four or five months. One million people have now been affected by this pandemic and counting. We have been ordered to stay in our homes, wear masks or some type of makeshift PPE and social distance ourselves from others--at least six feet.

Unless you survived through the Spanish flu in 1918, you are completely unfamiliar with this type of pandemic and a new way of living. Being unfamiliar with this way of life makes for having mixed feelings and not being able to cope with those new feelings.

Quarantine Blues

“Everything you are feeling is valid. Your feelings are valid.”

The first week of social distancing and staying home was quite enjoyable. I flew home from New York to Atlanta to be with my family and to have more space. However, the second week was not as pleasant. I wanted to cry every day of week two and I wasn't sure why. I was feeling heavy, confused and having overwhelming feelings of missing my life in New York.

Around the fifth day of feeling pretty melancholy, I came across an Instagram caption by NPR that read:

"Psychologists say that what a lot of us are feeling as a result of the pandemic, os in fact, a form of grief. To weather these uncertain times, its important to acknowledge and grieve lost routines, social connections, family structures and our sense of security-- and then create new ways to move forward, says interfaith chaplain and trauma counselor, Terri Daniel."

Reading this caption opened up a world of an array of feelings and possibilities of expression for me. There was finally some sort of definition for what I was feeling. In turn, there was also a solution.

For days, I constantly repeated the words "I miss my life in New York. I miss my walk to the gym I miss my gym crush that I never got to tell how I felt. I missed walking to the corner bodega!" The feeling you may be feeling is grief. You must allow yourself to acknowledge how you feel. Also, work through your feelings and know that you are not alone. Everything you are feeling is valid. Your feelings are valid.

Remember to be gracious with yourself during this time. Return to your center to keep from spiraling in a negative space.