Racism, COVID-19, Self-Care
Nine Ways to Boost Resilience During America’s Double Pandemic
At the crossroads of COVID-19 + race-related stress, self-care is crucial. But when discussing mental health is taboo, it is hard to know where to start.
“To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” ―James Baldwin
Disbelief, horror, fear, and rage. They describe the most intense levels of human emotion a person could experience. Imagine experiencing them all at once, day after day. Between the stream of images of Black people dying at the hands of racial injustice and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are dealing with an unsustainable cocktail of emotions. Dr. Bernice King tweeted, “It is traumatizing to be living through a global pandemic and living through the viciousness of racism at the same time.”
The National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and academic researchers have published several findings about the mental health impact of pandemic-related stress. According to the reports, people are dealing with symptoms relating to post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. They have reported poor sleep quality…
