It seems that life as we knew it has become yet another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic and while I’m not entirely sure that’s a bad thing, it’s definitely disconcerting and wearying. I’ve heard myself say and think the words, “I’m over this” so many times I’ve lost count.

Lying in bed last night, I realized I needed to start searching for a new normal and figuring out what I want the new normal to look like. I recently stumbled across the graphic below on social media and it went a long way towards giving me a working mantra to help me begin to think about moving forward:
I’ll be the first to admit that accepting what is, as in life as we know it being over, has been a challenge. So is letting go because I kinda liked my life before it was interrupted. I found myself frequently thinking things were on some kind of temporary hold. All those headlines (April 1st became April 15th then April 30th and now I hear sometime in May) have been seductive and had me thinking that once the magical date arrived, we’d throw the switch and the party would resume and I’d go back to “life as usual.”

But can it? Will it?

I don’t think so. It seems unlikely and again, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing but rather a scary thing.

But what I do know is that I cannot stay in a perpetual cycle of hand-wringing, aimless wandering and useless conjecture about when we might get back to some semblance of normalcy, old or new.

Coping Methods
After more than a few sleepless hours last night of mulling over where this is all going to go and what my place in the new world order might look like (and really, I still have no clue), I decided to do a “brain dump” this morning. A brain dump is the process of dumping everything out of your brain that’s bugging/worrying/aggravating you. It’s all the little disjointed thoughts that don’t seem to have any relation to other thoughts.

I basically wrote down everything that’s been nagging at me about this situation, but I’ve also used this exercise to target a specific problem I had no idea how to solve. Once everything is written down, I can often begin to see patterns and associations between those disjointed thoughts. And sometimes, I’ll see an answer or a path forward just from what I’ve written.

Other times, it takes a little longer. In these instances, it’s as if I have extra space in my brain and I use the room to begin working through the issue(s) at hand. Obviously, this pandemic and all its far-reaching effects on our lives is not going to be solved with one brain dump, but I also found myself feeling a bit of relief from the constant, nagging fear and worry.

Now that I have a written record of it, my brain and emotions can rest for a bit before finding something new to fret about. With that said, I also realize I get to must choose what I feed—my faith in what will be, in the possibility of an even-better new normal in life or my fear(s) that life will never be as good as it once was.

I see a lot more brain dumps in my future, especially if it helps me to keep the fear in check. I also see a lot more creative efforts. I’ve been exploring other art mediums, jewelry making, and such to keep myself entertained. I don’t know what I’ll pursue just yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll share it with you.

I also know it’s important for me to reach out to friends, be it a text or a phone call, to see how others are coping. The conversation always starts out about the virus, but I am trying to push past the pandemic to other things like art, music, recipes, sharing quarantine accomplishments and so forth. Life is more, far more, than the current case count of our state, and it helps me greatly to focus on something other than pandemic.

Lastly, I find it’s crucial for me to have [more] humor in my life. From Shelby’s antics while chasing those persistent squirrels away from the bird feeder to my husband’s dry humor to funny posts on social media to funny shows on Netflix, all of them help to fill the void left by my old life and soothe my worry over what the new one is going to look like and when it’s going to get here. (Ha! As if it will simply arrive on a specific date.)

I’m wondering how you’re doing and what you’re doing to pass the hours of the quarantine. How are you coping? What helps you to keep the fears at bay and have you given any thought to what life is going to look like on the other side of this and what you want your new normal to look like?

I’d love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment below!

I’ll leave you with a photo of a tired pup lounging on the couch with her head propped up on a deflated ball. She chased squirrels all day long yesterday and it just wore her out!

Sweet, tired Shelby!