How to cope with hitting the pandemic wall, again.

How to cope with hitting the pandemic wall, again.

Good Morning.

We’ve seen it before and it’s come back in the past month or so. Many of us are hitting that mental blockade: “the pandemic wall.” The close quarters are getting to us, along with their best friends of anxiety, loneliness and boredom. It seems no matter how many daily walks we take, or how perfect our work-from-home setup is, or whatever good news we get about the vaccine rollout, we’re tired.

While mental walls represent things that seem impassable, they also represent things that we measure ourselves against. Do you feel small looking up at your pandemic wall? Or can you see the other side? Walls look and feel different for everyone.

In times like these, I’m reminded of my interview with Monterey-based therapist Christina Whitton, who recognized these signs of fatigue during the pandemic. Whitton told me that we often measure our productivity and wellness against things we once had, but Covid has created a loss. 

To cope with the loss we need to accept the changes, and maybe take stock and quantify ourselves on a different scale, Whitton says: “We then need to change the thermometer of expectation—it’s OK that we’re doing less.”

The opportunity while doing less is to make sure what we do feels purposeful and meaningful. 

-Marielle Argueza, staff writer, marielle@mcweekly.com