Has the Pandemic finally taught us to take care of ourselves?

The collective experience we have been through over the past eighteen months has been unprecedented.

Loss of life, financial impact, disruption to infrastructure and routine, prolonged isolation and  a heightened level of anxiety have completely reshaped our lives.

Although we’ll be glad to see the back of these years, we can take with us the lessons they have taught.

We’ve overcome challenges, and come together in shared experiences, supported one another and reached out for connection and reassurance.

It has forced us to speak more frankly about our mental health, normalising open discussion. The struggle of getting through these strange times with our well-being intact has flexed those muscles of communication, honesty and understanding.

Has the pandemic finally taught us to take care of ourselves?

We’ve never been very good at this, as evidenced by the mental health crisis.

History so far does not seem to have taught mankind to stop fighting one another, judging, oppressing, discriminating against one another. Nor indeed to be kinder to ourselves.

But after a year in which the meaning of ‘self care’ has not been luxury but necessity, a year in which we have spent significant time alone with ourselves, are we actually getting somewhere?

Here are some lessons in ‘taking care’ that the pandemic has taught us:

Building Connection 

Loneliness. That was the big one wasn’t it? For those of us living in one-person households, isolation has been one of the deepest challenges. 

So we invented new ways of reaching out, be it zoom-based sunday roasts with the family, quiz nights with old friends, or distributing excess potatoes to your neighbours via socially-distanced doorstep-drops.

We’ve maintained the relationships that we once took for granted, proving what they’re worth to us, and built new communities while ‘staying local’.

Wellness 

If the health anxiety around Covid had any silver linings, maybe it has given us the gumption to address our wellness.

Losing weight, quitting smoking, even taking up an exercise routine for positivity during lockdown are some of the positive actions inspired by this negative experience.

Technology is a friend, but a fickle one 

We all know the drill. Without zoom, we’d have missed out on coffee catch ups, meeting new nieces and nephews, even lockdown dating. But we’ve also been sucked into one twitter debate too many, scrolled mindlessly, and compared our lockdown activities (or inactivity) to the banana-breads and side hustles of others, with negative effects for our mental health.

Devices, apps, platforms, and new ways of communicating have dominated our time. So what have we learned? Hopefully, to cultivate a balance as we are released into the three dimensional world.

The Healing power of Nature

Pubs. Bars. Nightclubs. Cafes. Restaurants. The cinema. Theatres. Non essential shops. All shut.

With the above options off the menu, we were left with but one alternative; the great outdoors.

The safety of the fresh air, the sense of freedom we get in wide open spaces, and the satisfaction of getting active with a hike or a bike ride after losing our busy routines - it fit the bill perfectly.

With so many of us discovering how grounding, cleansing and motivating time out in nature can be, finding peace and getting back to ourselves, we’ve picked up a healthy habit, as well as a heightened appreciation for the beauty of our world. 

The clearer skies and waters that resulted from decreases in pollution during lockdown also serve as a reminder to let the earth recover - we have to heal nature as much as it has healed us.

There’s such a thing as Too Much News. 

We all remember the first time we sat in silence glued to a official update, waiting to find out what will happen, what we should do.

And so it was for some time with the daily numbers rolling grimly in, the ER footage, and more.

Eventually we had to cut back. Watching what we cannot control takes a toll. 

It’s a valuable lesson to take forward; while it is important to stay informed and to add to key conversations, we can all benefit from drawing a line, to detach ourselves from the weight of world events.

Everything will not fall apart just because we take a break from worrying or feeling guilty.