There are days when I wake up and the weight of the world feels like is bearing down on me. Of course, when I take a step back, I can admit that a sense of hyper responsibility is on the laundry list of Adult Children of Alcoholics.
But in 2020, as I write this, the pandemic’s second wave is hitting the United States hard. Yesterday we had more than 159,000 new cases of the coronavirus. And in my state alone, we had 5,500 cases. Local schools in my area are considering going all virtual again, and Chicago’s mayor has announced another stay-at-home order. Add on top of virus concerns that President Trump still refuses to concede the presidential election to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and the amount of turbulence and instability in my country is high.
The challenge is resisting the negativity. Back in normal times, dealing with the stress of daily living was hard enough. But I am no longer living in normal times. The Chair of the Federal Reserve has said that the “economy as we knew it might be over.”
Yesterday’s unemployment report came out to show that more than 700,000 Americans filed new claims. That number is several hundred thousand times higher than some of the worst weeks in America’s history. Although the economy is slowing recovering, the instability due to the pandemic and the post-election cycle is wracking havoc in America.
How do I resist all the surrounding negativity?
It’s not easy and I expect it’s not easy for you either. I wish I had a magic set of words to help you, but I don’t. I can only share with you my experience and what has (and hasn’t) worked.
First, sleep has been critical to my well-being. By ensuring that I’m well-rested, I have a better handle on my emotions and can go about my day without the fog of anxiety and worry hanging over me. Exercise has been a great stress reliever for me and has helped me handle negative thoughts.
What hasn’t worked is doom scrolling (continuing to look through all the tweets on Twitter about the virus or the aftermath of the election) or watching cable news for hours? Both activities help to exacerbate the negativity swirling around in my head, and I’ve found that when I cut back on the news that I feel better.
Walking or running has been great as well as cleaning. I know this might sound odd, but when I put on music or a podcast and clean a bathroom, it’s brought great joy to me. If I’m honest, I like seeing chaos (a messy bathroom) and then fixing it. I know that cleaning the bathroom isn’t going to save the world, but it does bring me joy.
What I’ve also found is that negativity can spread within a family. With tensions high in the house, navigating each day with children also worried about the pandemic is even more complicated. I try to give more space to my kids and to be mindful of how they’re feeling. Empathy is key right now.
I know that 2020 won’t last forever and that we will get through the pandemic. I hope that one day I’ll re-read this passage and be happy because I’m in the future and the virus is long gone.
But I don’t know when that will be, and the skills I’m learning today on how to deal with negativity will help me for a lifetime.
Take time today to reflect. How do you overcome negativity? What works for you and what doesn’t?
Learning that about yourself is critical.
Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.