Friday, May 15
By Katherine Schneider, for the CVPost
Recently I got up in a foul humor for no apparent reason.
Then I read an article that said we’re entering the third quarter of responding to isolation and I understood what was going on.
Based on studies of submariners and people who spend a year in Antarctica, people get growly and act wild during the third quarter of this kind of an isolating deployment. We’re not at the end of the pandemic, but we’re starting to see some places open up and others not.
Some of us, because of age and other factors, may need to keep isolating even when others are more out and about. Jealousy joins the mix of feelings!
Some tips from a fellow pilgrim on the pandemic journey:
- Monitor your moods like you would your temperature. Then they don’t jump out and surprise you.
- Keep your routine going or start one, so you can look back on the day and say “I did this and this.”
- Treat yourself to a little luxury every day, whether it’s listening to a favorite song or a cup of tea.
- If you need to feel sorry for yourself, go ahead. Better to let it happen than try to talk yourself out of it and have it come out anyway.
- If you can get outside, do so. Pretend to be a dog; e.g., smell, listen and look at your environment from this new perspective.
- Socialize any way you can, especially with people who help you see the funny parts or radiate hope.
- At the end of the day, in addition to thinking about what you did and didn’t accomplish, think of something you’re grateful for.
- Note: the home page image is a representation of a coronavirus cell.
To read previous instalments of “The Corona Chronicles,” click here