Mental Health in the Pandemic
Author: Lorena Canales González
The human being is a routine man. Some say that this is how we are by nature, others say that we have learned it over the years. Until a little over a year ago, our day to day consisted of the routine that we had unconsciously or consciously established; daily carrying out the actions that brought us closer and closer to the path we wanted to take. Although some people were not satisfied with their daily routine, most of us were used to it.
On March 13, 2020, everything changed. The world took a 180 degree turn and our routine had to stop and/or change suddenly. Those of us who worked had to stop working. Those of us who studied stopped studying; the children stopped going to the park; the travelers had to return to their homes. Economic income stopped being income and the security we had suddenly became our greatest insecurity. In addition, we had to isolate ourselves completely from our social circle, avoiding hugs, talks, meetings and physical contact.
Most of our personal areas (work, family, spiritual, professional, etc.) were affected in different ways thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, some positively and some negatively. However, no matter how they were affected, all of these areas had a direct impact on our mental health.
The factors that have the greatest impact on our mental health are the following:
- Loneliness and isolation.
- Loss and grief
- Domestic and family violence
- Bullying
- Unemployment or loss of business.
- Sleep problems
- Alcohol and/or drug use.
- Stages of life such as: pregnancy, childhood years, changes of schools or cities, adulthood and everything that entails, among others.
Taking these factors into account, we can see that from one day to the next we face most of them worldwide. Regardless of the age, gender or race of the person, the mental health of the majority of the population was affected during the year 2020 - 2021.
The first question we asked yesterday was how has your experience been with this issue? Most of the people answered that their mental health was negatively affected, arousing anxiety, fear and deep sadness, especially in the beginning. I believe that today we live in a society where it is increasingly difficult for us to introspect and know ourselves, since we are surrounded by stimuli and distractions that prevent us from doing so.
At the moment in which the isolation and social distancing began, circumstances forced us to have the time to sit down and think about everything we had not wanted to think about. It forced us to face unidentified emotions, with kept grudges, with unspoken forgiveness; as well as forced us to discover everything that makes us who we are, everything we enjoy and everything we can contribute to the world. It reminded us that there are always two polarities: where there are problems there are solutions, where there is pain there is love. It is a matter of us making the decision about where to put our energy. One of the responses we got to that question was, “complicated at first, but better now than ever before”. I think we should work on putting our energy in that polarity. Despite the fact that it costs us a lot of work, and that it is very easy to let our emotions control us, we have the opportunity to introspect and work on ourselves from the inside.Heal all those pains that we have been carrying, live together and discover stories about the people we live with, do more of what we like and make us feel at peace, and above all, be thankful for our health and the fact that we have been able to fight the pandemic
Another of the questions we asked was what do you feel about the issue of mental health in the pandemic? And one person answered the following: “it changed my reality 100%, but I think it's part of life to have these kinds of moments that make us question everything. It is very difficult to experience them but they bring us lessons that we would not have been able to understand in any other way.” This answer makes me question the lessons we learned as a society and the different ways we could have learned them. I think it is important that each one of us sit down to analyze and identify each of the learnings and lessons that you have obtained thanks to this last year. How has it changed you? In what ways are you different from the person you were before this happened? What are you grateful for having lived through this pandemic?
Lastly, we asked what other topics do you think about? Despite the fact that most of the answers were similar (quality of life, privileges, recognizing emotions, family, self-esteem), there was a A response that caught my attention, and I think this blog should end this way: “makes me reflect on what are the pillars that really sustain our lives and form our character? I think that many are these types of moments that we tend to hate and we could change that chip to see them as the things that make us strong and that give us the opportunity to grow”.
To finish, I ask you: after the pandemic, have you managed to identify the pillars that make you who you are, that support you and give you the strength to move forward? What are they?.
References:
- Factors That Influence Mental Health. (2021). Retrieved 29 July 2021, from https://www.thinkmentalhealthwa.com.au/supporting-my-mental-health/factors-that-can-affect-your-mental-health/
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