The past few months, especially the past few weeks, have been quite difficult for all of our mental health. Personally, I’ve been a lot more on edge lately. I find that the smallest things are causing anxiety, I get bored easier, and I feel so socially detached from my friends, despite frequent calls. It’s so easy to feel lost when everything’s up in the air. Since I know I’m not the only one struggling, I thought to share my experiences in finding happiness, even in what seems like the darkest of times.
My biggest problem lately has definitely been my anxiety. Most everything I’ve been concerned about is totally out of my control, which doesn’t necessarily help the situation. Usually, I would distract myself with my work and the things I love to do, like content creation and taking dance classes. Unfortunately, I’ve lost access to a lot of these things, and the substitutes just don’t satisfy me in the same way. How did I fix this? I adapted. I call my friends when things get tough since the dumb jokes we all have always make me laugh. Sure, it’s not a hug or a photo session, but it’s definitely better than nothing. When my friends aren’t around, I’ve found myself getting creative in other aspects, like reorganizing my decor and drawing on Adobe Illustrator or Procreate (I’ve recently started to get more into graphic design and I LOVE it). When I don’t exactly feel like working, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube and Disney+ (Zenimation is a godsend of a series). Being able to release the negative energy feels incredible, and it certainly helps to calm me down.
Now that my semester’s over, I have relatively little going on. I find that I thrive when I have a ton of things going on and I can manage my time effectively. In the past, my breaks usually weren’t super long, and I was ok with not being super productive because it was my time to recharge. I’m currently at the point where I feel like I’ve been “on break” for three months, and I’m starting to struggle with the very question Phineas and Ferb asked themselves every episode- “what are we gonna do today?” Since I don’t have many side tasks or assignments, I get everything I work on done a lot faster, so I try to pace myself. Often times, pacing starts as a “quick break” and turns into scrolling through Instagram and TikTok. From this, I restructured how I thought about getting things done. I write everything I need or want to get done down and from there, I pick one or two things to start with each day and build a simple timeline of projects. It may not be much, and it usually ends up changing and being super flexible, but at least it’s a bouncing off point to start.
One of the hardest parts of quarantine is certainly being away from my friends. My inner circle was one of the main reasons I had such a good time at college. Being away from them for three months is a lot harder than I could’ve imagined, especially since I was so used to seeing them for extended periods of time almost every day. FaceTime has been working, but I’ve found that digital activities help to bridge the gap a bit more. I recently wrote a blog post all about staying connected during such strange times.
It may be a dark time, but finding happiness is not impossible. It definitely takes more effort, but stability and joy are achievable regardless of the current situation.
See ya real soon,
