Covid-19/Mental Health Anyone Else Having Trouble?

[Darkane]

Social media is a nightmare and really affects people state of minds.

However, reading good news stories about the current problem is uplifting for me.

There are good news stories, trust me.

[tirebob]

Adam c and Kloubek - I appreciate your insights a lot. Learning to deal with this on a daily basis long term like that speaks a lot to your characters. I am thankful to you both for this!


Kritafo - I am really sorry to hear of your loss like this. I really hope you find people around you who help you through this tough time. I find my pups too do seem to help as well, even if it is just something silly the do that give me a momentary smile. Today we just went for a couple hour drive and dropped off some Easter chocolates with our kids. By no means life changing but I must admit it helped to just get out and about in the sun for a little bit. I hope this thread will give you a chance to maybe articulate your troubles and hopefully help you see we all have something to share. It is what I am needing myself right now. Please don’t be shy to shoot a PM if you feel the need to be a bit less public and just want an ear to bend...

[shakalaka]

This may be have been mentioned before, there is no shame in reaching out to a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Even if you think you can manage your issues yourself, the professionals can often assist us in more ways than we ourselves can even think of. My wife is a prov. psychologist (edmonton.psychology on Instagram) and she tells me often how otherwise seemingly normal individuals with good careers (lawyers, doctors, dentists etc) will come to her and while initially be defensive and closed-off, eventually open up and realize how much they benefit from counselling, CBT etc. Especially these days when everyone is staying at home, it is even easier to access these services as they are able to operate through video chat and you can take advantage of that from the privacy of your own home. My wife's office has shifted to the online model for now, although I'd imagine a lot of other businesses are doing the same. I am sure it's not the same as doing it in person, but during tough times such as these, something is better than nothing.

In EI community I think there's still a huge stigma surrounding mental health. Though my wife says things are definitely changing as she is seeing more and more people from the community tying to address their concerns. The first thing anyone can do for themselves is acknowledge their concerns and issues instead of ignoring them. Then it is absolutely imperative to seek help from an expert.

And I have to admit, as someone who never really had any afflictions related to mental health and always thought people were being drama queens when they talked about anxiety etc., my eyes have opened quite a bit and perspective surrounding these areas significantly changed after having my wife come into my life. It's hard for people without such issues to understand what others maybe going through but the key thing to remember is help is out there and you are absolutely not alone.

To anyone who is feeling lonely, sad or otherwise down during these times - reach out to friends and family (via technology) and see if that helps. If it doesn't then a professional will be super helpful. As a side tip, download an app called Houseparty and get your friends/family to get it as well. You can play games with each other via there and in general have that interaction that everyone is being deprived of lately.

[Kloubek]

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This may be have been mentioned before, there is no shame in reaching out to a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

It's hard for people without such issues to understand what others maybe going through

I agree that seeing a professional can help some people. I think the people it helps are limited to those who are unable to approach their issues with a calm, logical mind. Professionals can absolutely help people see the real scenario as it is, provide coping mechanisms, and is generally just someone to spill to which can be comforting in itself. I do think, however, that the usefulness IS largely limited to those who allow their emotions to supercede logic.

As for your second point I quoted, I will take it a step further and say it is literally impossible for one with a sound mental state to truly understand what someone with mental illness is going through. It is human nature to use our own opinions and own experiences to try to make sense of situations. Unfortunately, this cannot be applied to understanding mental illness because the feelings (both physical and mental) it generates just aren't comparable to anything they have experienced, and they don't come from a logical, sound mind position.

My typical way to try to explain it is this: "Take the worst day you ever had. Maybe you lost a job or a loved one. Then try to remembee how that felt, and multiply that feeling by up to 10. Then try to imagine how that enormous feeling would be to live with from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed. For days. Weeks. Years. Decades."

If you can successfully paint that picture in your mind, then you might at least fathom how people with severe mental illness feel. But you still won't truly know.

Of course, most people experience varying degrees of this. What I just explained was me 15 years ago until I found a drug that eliminated that intense low. But even if someone only experiences half or a quarter of what I described, it is a very, very deep negative experience that can absolutely consume someone.

I am happy the stigma is starting to lift, but until we as a society address mental illness as real as something like a broken arm or a kidney stone attack, it will never receive the attention and empathy of others as much as it needs.

[Sentry]

March was rough and I mostly drank my way through it to be honest, my gf was in isolation due to someone at her work testing positive. Also my Birthday was March 10th and I was waiting until the weekend after to celebrate, of course when everything shut down and was cancelled. April has been going much better now that I'm able to see her again and the general attitude isn't so grim. Still working thankfully and have some money socked away in case Im not. Also don't have kids, so don't have that burden through all this.

[bjstare]

Good thread Bob. I don't think it makes you a bad person to be more worried about the economic side of things; this is the more real problem for the vast majority of people.

I don't have a lot to add that others haven't said, except RE: exercise. I know you live in a nice place to spend time outside... maybe try downloading a good podcast or two and just going for a long walk? That way you won't be bored. thesmokingtire is a great podcast, if you don't mind listening to Matt Farah.

Keep your head up buddy.

[Kritafo]

I did go for a drive today as well, just wandered, it was nice that it was sunny that certainly affects my mood. I bought my adult children Easter treats but nobody feels like celebrating, All the firsts are very hard. Thanks for listening, and for everyone that commented. Just nice to express it all.

[ExtraSlow]

I have subscribed to the AHS text4hope service and I'm liking it. Here's today's message :

[The_Rural_Juror]

I will do that too. Staying away from the other thread also appears to help.

[tirebob]

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I have subscribed to the AHS text4hope service and I'm liking it. Here's today's message :

I must be safe because I still shower daily, often twice! Seriously though, I think just talking shit out and trying to do normal things is helping me the most right now. Starting this thread and just admitting to myself I was having trouble is a huge deal for me. Taking a drive and ding dong ditching chocolate at my kids was good for the spirit and simple things like washing dishes by hand and shovelling snow is more fun right now that doing nothing.

Today is starting out alright so I am going to keep it rolling as best I can by doing little things and trying not to dwell on the miserable aspects. Hopefully with the weather starting to warm up will help and get me busy enough at work I can occupy myself with that and see the possibility of financial survival start to emerge. That will be huge if I can do that.

I just want to say thanks everybody for being civil and helpful with this stuff. It means a lot when people extend a hand and express concern, especially over stuff they don’t always relate too personally.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Once this is all over, I would encourage tirebob to increase usage of paragraphs. Just kidding. We're all good.

[tirebob]

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Once this is all over, I would encourage tirebob to increase usage of paragraphs. Just kidding. We're all good.

I was never a writer... Verbal diarrhea at best.

[Disoblige]

Once this is all over, I would encourage The_Rural_Juror to decrease posts to < 20/day. Just kidding. We're all good.

[firebane]

The thing is when your limited in where you can go and what you can do.. Your just creating yourself another routine to substitute for another.

This makes it even more harder to not fall into a cycle because you keep trying to find things to do and it just becomes part of the routine.

I think the biggest issues for a lot of us right now is the weather. I speak to a lot of my co-workers who live in Florida and Houston and it would be warm and like +20c when we are -10 and getting snowed in.

I can say that I"m sure the majority of us are all doing what we can to absolutely stay positive and try to not get dragged down into feeling worse than it needs to.

[The_Rural_Juror]

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Once this is all over, I would encourage The_Rural_Juror to decrease posts to < 20/day. Just kidding. We're all good.

I thought this was supposed to be the happy thread, commander.

- - - Updated - - -

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I can say that I"m sure the majority of us are all doing what we can to absolutely stay positive and try to not get dragged down into feeling worse than it needs to.

I agree with you on that.

[Disoblige]

Hahah, I think this is a healthy thread, doesn't necessarily mean 100% happy fun times.
Either way, I am just poking fun. We all have our way of coping

[The_Rural_Juror]

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Hahah, I think this is a healthy thread, doesn't necessarily mean 100% happy fun times.
Either way, I am just poking fun. We all have our way of coping

I understand. Yous a good dude.

[civic_stylez]

Great thread Bob.

For me, its been my energy. Both physical and mental. I used to get up before work and go to the Y for an intense workout to start my day. I felt great.. the blood pumped, my mental state was sharp. Since this has set in, its just the loss of drive and desire to do anything. The wife and I go for walks to nowhere, drives to nowhere and i still ask people on the phone, "so what are your plans this week?" as if im to expect some cool answer... its just the nothingness of my days that are weighing me down.

Ive set up the home gym but its not the same. The mental aspect of actually going to the gym is gone. Im easily distracted at home and thats if I can get the motivation to do it at all.

My one saving grace is my commitment to learning while this slow down of life is occurring. Ive always had a real interest in learning to do video editing but never made the time to really learn. Last week, I downloaded Davinci Resolve and have poured a lot of time and effort into it to give my brain a new challenge besides deciding what snack I want for the 40th time today.

Through all my complaining, I realize that I am still very lucky and I have a great wife to help keep me company. I hope that those that are alone are doing well and keeping upbeat as I imagine this to be a lot more difficult for them.

I had an email sent to me with this link, and its definitely worth the short read.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/b...ture-1.4215119

[The_Rural_Juror]

Thanks for the link @civic_stylez

[cet]

I'm handling it pretty well. I think myself very fortunate that I'm still working and had a bunch of projects on the go to keep me busy. I have tried to keep my routine as close to normal as possible. Before being locked down I'd get up and go to the gym in the morning so kept doing that, only now, I work out in the basement.

Work has changed a bit with no travel but I have things to keep me busy. In the evenings I make dinner then relax or work on a project for a while before bed. Trips to the grocery or hardware store give me enough of an outing for now so that i don't feel like I'm imprisoned in my own home.

I still see my parents and brother about once a week, usually they will come over here to help with one of my projects. I don't have social media so even if someone was shaming me I couldn't see, not that I would care anyway. A pretty big bonus is that since school is out I now have my daughter week on week off. Keeping a 9 year old entertained is challenging but I'm loving the extra time I have with her.

I'm determined to come out of this better than when I went in; get more projects knocked off the list and use the extra time to learn new things. Since I'm cooking at home most of the time now anyway I may as well get better at it. I've signed up for Masterclass and working my way through the cooking courses as well as some others.