It’s not going to come as a shock that this time of isolation during the Covid19 pandemic has been difficult. I’ve always described myself as a “people person.” However, it wasn’t until the quarantine that I discovered how much I actually thrive on interpersonal communication.
Not sure about you, but when New York’s Governor called for non-essential workers to stay home back on March 20th, I thought to myself: “OK, this sucks, but I’m going to use this time to be SO productive!” That was true for the first 3 days. After that, the reality of everything hit, and the isolation started to weigh me down.
As an extrovert, I slowly started to creep into a depression over the past 2 weeks. Once I acknowledged my feelings and accepted them, I started reaching out for methods that would help. Here are some of the things that have significantly helped me cope with the isolation.
1). Use the “Snooze” feature on Facebook
With more time on my hands, I find myself spending more time on Facebook. So much of what people are re-posting and sharing lately is just so negative! I have no interest in adding to the negativity, conspiracy theories or banter about what is going on in world right now.
We all have those people on our feeds, (some of them might even be in your family!) who just love stirring the pot. So my solution to that? SNOOZE THEM! By snoozing someone on Facebook, it will remove any of that person’s content from showing up in your news feed for 30 days. This has been such an amazing feature, and I am snoozing the heck out of people.
You can also opt to “unfollow” someone too. This will keep this person as your friend on Facebook, but you won’t see their status updates unless you choose to follow them again. If you snooze or unfollow someone, they are not notified, so no hard feelings.
2). FaceTiming my nephew for impromptu piano concerts
Music has been such a healing remedy for me lately. My 10 year old nephew is learning some really advanced Mozart pieces, and playing them for me over FaceTime. Earlier this week, I was feeling really lonely; probably the lowest since this isolation period began. I FaceTimed my sister and asked her if she could put Levi on to play some songs for me.
Just seeing his face (and my nieces sweet face) lifted my spirits and helped me feel connected. After he was finished playing his songs, my sister came back on the line. She asked me how I was doing. I instantly burst into tears….
3). Crying
A couple weeks ago, I kept telling myself that it was stupid to feel sad or upset about staying home. I was safe. I was healthy. I should feel grateful. But I still couldn’t shake that lingering feeling of holding back tears. When my sister asked how I was doing, it was like she opened the floodgates.
The best part about it, was after I was done crying, it felt like I had released all this bottled up emotion I held inside. It freed up so much space in my brain. The tears allowed me to face the reality of what I was feeling, rather than continue to keep them locked inside.
4). Blue light filtering glasses
Since the beginning of this time of isolation, I’ve been spending wayyyyy more time on my screens. I’ve noticed that it’s had a major impact on my physical health too. Before the quarantine, I would occasionally get headaches. But over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed my headaches have been more frequent and more intense. I decided to see if using blue light filtering glasses would help.
I ventured out to Target and got this pair for $20. You can find them cheaper on Amazon, but friends, I was desperate. It’s only been a couple days, and to be honest, I can’t tell if it’s the Advil or the glasses or the combination, but today is the first day I’ve worked from home this week headache free.
My Instagram DM inbox was flooded with messages from people who said that they noticed a huge difference in their own headaches since wearing blue light filtering glasses for work. So, here’s hoping this continues to help!
5). Rosie
Never in my life did I think I would have such a strong connection to an animal the way I have with my dog Rosie. It’s amazing the impact she has had in my life during this time of isolation. Without Rosie, I would be far more likely to just sit on my ass all day. Rosie gets me up and outside and encourages me to keep moving. We go on a bike ride together almost every afternoon. When I’m working, she’s curled up next to me with her head on my lap or at my feet.
I’ve been training Rosie to chase the geese away on our river front and it’s one of our daily highlights. Seeing her run around and be playful brings me so much joy. You can catch some of our adventures on my Instagram Stories.
Never in our modern history have we had to experience this type of quarantine before. It’s important for me to remember to take everything one day at a time. If I allow myself to spiral into the “what ifs” it doesn’t do me any good. I hope and pray that this virus curve continues to flatten and that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.
