Why we must tend to ourselves
Your current state of mind is the most important to take care of, so let’s start treating ourselves more estimably.
How would you rate your current mental health? Have COVID and quarantine made it worse?
Being secluded in our homes away from gatherings such as school, work and social events may make us ponder on our thoughts more.
We may be thinking too deeply in the past or too far into the future rather than focusing on our present selves. These thoughts could become stressful for us as we question the future and the unknown events that will take place. Oftentimes we want to be able to control our lives and protect ourselves, so these overwhelming thoughts may cause us to raise our guard more.
When a simple “Are you okay?” or “How are you feeling?” makes us want to spill every emotion we’re fostering, we must take a step back and ask ourselves “Did I tend to you enough today?”
As our universities and workplaces found different ways to continue our work through zoom and online projects, we may still feel just as busy as we were before COVID. Although we are home, we are behind our computer screens working and we are still capable of forgetting to nurture ourselves daily. Life has not stopped, and this quarantine has not decreased our stress levels nor has it taken the weight off of our shoulders.
Our schedules might be packed all day, or even more than before. We may have to go to work or attend class in the morning, and then work more throughout the day and then run hundreds of errands throughout the 24-hour day as time ticks away.
When the weekend finally hits we might be so tired we sleep in or we go to our second job before we even get over the exhaustion from Monday through Friday. And then, just like that, Monday rolls back around.
This might feel like a never-ending cycle for us, and we may even feel like human robots just working away, unable to know what the future holds.
As hard as it is, these thoughts of ours need to come to a complete halt and vanish. We can’t question the future anymore, because no matter how much we read the news, we cannot know what the fate of the world holds.
Instead, we need to tune into our current state and ask, “What can I do to improve my mental state right now?” and “What are some barriers that are holding us from doing so?”
We may have a constant overwhelming emotion looming when we have dozens of errands on our agenda and multiple assignments to complete. This may discourage us from tending to our mental health as we think our errands and assignments are top priority. While school and work should be a top priority, if your mental health impacts your decision making and school/work performance, then mental health should be at the top of your list. We are not robots that will work endlessly until we die, life is so much more than that.
Before quarantine, we surely had somewhere we always wanted to visit or something we always wanted to accomplish. These goals should not be forgotten due to the pandemic. Yes, some activities are on hold right now for our safety, but it doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish other things while simultaneously practicing self-love and self-growth.
