THE PANDEMIC CHRONICLES: FINDING CERTAINTY AMIDST UNCERTAIN TIMES
By: Nhaleah Mutalib
We are about two and a half years of venturing and continuing into our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lot is going on around us. We are balancing a lot — from work, school, family, and our health — during this time of great uncertainty. Navigating through the horrors of this pandemic was not what we initially envisaged. Nobody could have predicted the coronavirus and its shocking ability to take over the entire world and our entire beings. More tension, worry, and emotional breakdowns have resulted from the imposed lockdown restrictions and isolations. Life is still a bit uncertain for so many people.
We stay steadily convincing ourselves that things will soon go back to the usual — that glimmering hope and that belief that we are stronger than we think. The pandemic continues to ravage nations. People are losing jobs, relationships are ending abruptly, some have lost close relations, and many families separated. We are feeling the strain of months of stress, and at this point, we might be feeling discouraged. And we constantly ask ourselves, “When will this catastrophic health crisis ends? How much more damage would it cost to us?”.
Natural debacles have unavoidable impacts on our behavioral health, and it is normal not to feel okay right now. In this battle, you are not alone if you see that you react negatively to what you are going through. It is natural to experience being furious or upset during a pandemic. However, there are things you can do to manage them.
We interpret things differently in stressful situations, and we become so focused on things we perceive as threats that we can’t see the benefits or think clearly about alternatives. As our brain gets tired from dealing with the stressful events around us, we react more emotionally. Our coping mechanism concerning these maladies can still be attainable through a series of developments.
The social media newsfeeds and landscapes are full of people dealing with pandemics like steroids. Everyone is a dancer, singer, master chef, and most millennials, generation Zs, and even boomers have access and accounts in several social media platforms, especially TikTok. TikTok has evaded our quarantine loopholes. It somewhat became a tool for us in escaping from the catastrophic reality. From the era of Dalgona making trends, up to trends that made us long for days, we can no longer experience.
As Allison Buskirk Cohen, an associate professor, and a chairman of Delaware Valley University’s Psychology Department, points out, “Our bodies and minds are created to cope with short-term dilemmas with apparent outcomes. Long-term ambiguous stressors, such as dealing with the COVID-19 situation, are more difficult to manage.”
So many protocols are being imposed and said by the government and health authorities about physical health and cleanliness, washing hands, and social distancing. However, managing our mental health is just as important. Despite all the malignant health effects of COVID-19, there is another thing that we are unaware of for us to deal with, and this is our mental health. Every individual’s mental health welfare is pivotal, especially in this time of distance and online learning — students, educators, and youths are highly susceptible to it. We cannot afford to ignore our psychological well-being, as well as the myriad of vulnerable people who are affected by it. According to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO), in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%. Concerns about the potential for mental health disorders to worsen promptly 90% of countries surveyed include mental health and psychosocial help in their COVID-19 response plans. Yet, there are still significant gaps and concerns. Furthermore, it takes more mental strength than physical, to accept the current situation.
There are ways to embrace and find the silver-lining aspects of every adversity. Among these are some coping strategies that we can adapt during these times — Firstly is to learn to accept that this is a phase that will not last forever. Tough times could be like a never-ending nightmare. It is easy to give up and lose faith when life is uncertain, but the significant step towards coping is recognizing the present situation and strategizing a way forward. It is so hard to keep faith when you are experiencing life differently. But remember, you have more power over your mind than you can ever imagine. It is a problematic phenomenon. You can, however, teach your mind to believe in reassuringly positive thoughts. The second will be practicing self-care to manage stress and anxiety, particularly during crises like this pandemic, creating and implementing a self-care plan. A self-care plan outlines specific ways to care for yourself, such as reading, going outside, indulging in a hobby, or connecting with people. Even before you put your self-care plan into action, developing one might help you feel better, for it helps you identify your needs and beliefs.
Thirdly, focus on things within your control. While “we cannot control what occurs to us, we can control how we respond to it, and the meaning that we make of it,” explains Jonathan Horowitz, a clinical psychologist and CEO of the San Francisco Stress and Anxiety Center. Indeed, now is an excellent time for self-discovery. It is about time we adjusted to the new normal. As Robert Schuller points out, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” Remember, if you don’t help yourself, who will? The reality is that the only person we can rely on is ourselves. And lastly, be thankful and concentrate on positive events for, in everything that happens, we can always pick meaningful lessons to move forward. This period might have exposed us to great ideas if we were operating through our routine. We have unleashed our inner capabilities through the phenomenon we’re unaware of. We should be glad for new opportunities, new hobbies, and many self-discoveries that can contribute to our growth as an individual.
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has grown into a significant worldwide concern and a challenge that we must learn to manage and conquer for the present and future. The ability to be resilient equates to mental toughness and the capacity to persevere. True resilience is the capability to persevere in the face of difficulty. Not only physically but also mentally. Everything that is physically difficult is first experienced in mind. If the body listens to the mind instead of the other way around, compulsiveness, unfortunately, has developed into a horrible habit that needs to be broken. We can bounce back from difficult situations and make quick modifications to strengthen our minds and bodies to accomplish our desired objectives when we have true resilience.
Many people feel that resilience is a character attribute. However, this is not the case. It is learned and mastered like any other skill. Nevertheless, developing this skill will require time and effort. Some people may have grown up in settings that forced them to be tougher to survive. Though, that does not rule out the prospect of attaining their degree of mastery. Everything is a process; all it takes is a little time and effort. You may become more resilient with the right attitude and practice, no matter your age.
In the darkest of times, we, humans, are resilient and can pull through in the face of disasters. It is another avenue to keep us going with life despite the underlying day-to-day dilemmas we subjugate. This is evident in us Filipinos, for we have constantly been tested by times, calamities, and many adversities. Nurturing this resiliency within our inner selves throughout the darkest of days is a factor in conquering various challenges this life could offer.
Can’t you see what’s happening? Can’t you see what we’ve become? We always long for good times to come back. We must always believe that the sun will rise again. We should believe that the hard earth soon will soften, and plants will bloom before our eyes. Our situation today, I think, couldn’t last forever. Nothing in this lifetime could remain permanently. But if we move beyond this moment, these fiendish worries must leave. We need hopeful stories more than ever; we should tell them until we’re blue. We should say them until we look outside and see that they have come true. We should still long for the day when we woke up early and slowly stepped out of our homes, surroundings, and communities. We should not lose hope that a new world will emerge right in front of our eyes. And in that new world, the sounds, the smells, and the colors will be so much brighter than before.
Sometimes, the world may seem scary, and even the grown-ups are not immune. We should solely believe and depend on ourselves that things will all be better soon. Some worries will always be there, even when banished to the deep. But they are nothing to a heart that is feeling hopefulness within oneself. We should never forget to take the courage within us when we sleep, for tomorrow, we might all need it, for the uncertain mishaps we might feel. Through it, all, remember this quote from Henry Ford, “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
