Guard Your Heart! — COVID-19 Cartoon on Mental Health Awareness

A few months into the pandemic, aren’t we all missing “precedented times”?

Staying home, wearing masks, and social distancing like the well-meaning members of the society we are, we’re striving to keep our bodies safe from the virus. However today let’s take a moment to reflect on how we’re treating our minds — our vulnerable mental health that may be affected even more than our physical health.

COVID-19 takes a gigantic toll on mental well-being for its defining characteristics: (1) rapidly spreading through human contact, it reinforces isolation — it separates families, and even makes us fear human interaction; (2) a worldwide pandemic, it is currently causing collective trauma spanning months of time; (3) a novel virus for which humankind lacks vaccines, treatment, or enough knowledge about its transmission, everything about COVID-19 reeks of uncertainty.

No wonder we’re confused, helpless, depressed, angry, burnt out, fatigued, stressed, and anxious. Is there anything we can do about it, then?

The most significant (but surprisingly difficult) step we can take is to acknowledge that it is perfectly natural to be affected by the pandemic, and let ourselves off the hook for a bit.

Those of us that have lost all sense of time and daily rhythm, let us not blame ourselves for it. Those of us that are working from home, we can try not being too harsh on ourselves for procrastinating, for losing concentration. Surviving a pandemic is hard enough, and we all deserved to be applauded for plowing through yet another day.

This expression is overused, but it cannot be stressed enough that it is a sign of strength to reach out for help in times of need. It’s an incredibly smart, brave thing to do. We may need assistance to cope through these traumatic times; if so, there are many resources that we can turn to, and most of these are offered remotely! :) If you’re in the United States, check out the APA Resource Page.

All of us deserve to be safe and healthy. May we be mindful of our physical & mental health through the pandemic!

#COVID19 #Mentalhealth #Awareness #StaySafe #MindAndBody