Many of us are experiencing pandemic fatigue after 12 months of living under restrictions. This has resulted in some people broadening their bubble or not as strictly adhering to guidelines. It’s important to continue to engage in the protocols that have worked for the past 10 months to keep the spread of COVID down but that’s not what I want to talk about here. The last several weeks I have been personally thinking about how pandemic fatigue has impacted my overall mental health.
Pandemic Fatigue and Mental Health – My Experience
As a person diagnosed with anxiety and depression that gets worse in the darker winter months in the Pacific Northwest, I am used to feeling sad this time of year. That being said, pandemic fatigue has had a negative impact on my mental health.
During a normal year I would have things to look forward to that would help to pull me through the winter months – and even through the tougher weeks. This year there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. And while I am hoping to be vaccinated this summer so that I can engage in some summer activities, or maybe even celebrate my thirtieth birthday I can’t help but feel like I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
I’ve also found that my ability to deal with minor stressors or even minor inconveniences has decreased. I find myself ruminating, or hyper fixating on, tiny details or small things people have said (this may be, in part, due to the fact that a good portion of my communication with people has been texted based). I also find myself crying over everything. While crying in itself isn’t problematic and I pride myself on being a person who is in touch with their emotions, crying all the time is emotionally exhausting.
I am also simply exhausted from the stress of existing in the current state of the world. The increased anxiety I have experienced as a result of pandemic fatigue has resulted in inconsistent sleep that is less restful. This, in turn, makes it more challenging to manage my anxiety.
Mental Health and Important Relationships
As a result of my struggles with my mental health I’ve also experienced some perceived difficulties in my relationships with other people. My mental health has increased my emotional needs when it comes to my important relationships. I lean on them more when I am feeling anxious or sad and I have been reaching out more often asking for reassurance that they still care about me or that they think I’m a decent person. These are tools that generally work for me to manage my anxiety and insecurities but it has become incredibly challenging to ignore the negative self-talk that tells me I am a burden to them.
Making a Change
When I started to realize just how exhausted I was feeling and my negative self-talk began to pile up to such an extent that I was worried about reaching out to my support people I knew I had to do something to make a change in my life.
I am still in the process of managing all of this, as most of us are, but here are some things that are working for me.
- Validating my emotions. It’s been important to remind myself it’s okay to feel the way I do. Normally I struggle with my mental health at this time of the year and the last 12 months have made it more challenging. That is allowed.
- Reminding myself I am not alone. I am not the only one feeling this way.
- Asking permission to vent or ask for support. It helps me to feel more secure in my relationships with people when I ask them if I can vent, or get their advice or whatever it is I need from them. This gives them the opportunity to say no which helps to preserve our relationship and ensure me that I am not contributing to their burden.
- Managing sleep. Getting enough rest is incredibly important in managing my overall mental health. So, if that means going to bed at 8pm so be it. I also try to have a more organized bedtime routine that allows me to wind down at the end of the day. I am still working on the less screens before bed thing.
- Finding things to look forward to, even if they’re small.
- Take a step back from a productivity mindset. It’s easy to get stuck in the hustle mindset, especially as a contract worker, but it’s important to remind yourself that your value is not based on your ability to be productive.
- Take time for myself. Reminding myself of the importance of self-care and taking time to do things that make me happy, like writing poems and reading. I also find it helpful to tell myself that it is productive to take time for self-care, it allows my brain to accept it more easily.
- Physical exercise. Exercising always makes me feel good, particularly when I am able to do it outside. On days where I find it particularly challenging to get going my bike ride into the office can really change my mindset for the day.
Final Thoughts
Pandemic fatigue is real and for many of us this is having a significant impact on our ability to manage our mental health. As a result, it’s important to be intentional about the decisions we are making about our health and make time to take care of ourselves.