Blog Post – Managing Stress Amidst a Pandemic
By : Gwen Elverson
To many of us, stress is commonplace and is the shadow lurking in the back of our minds all the time. For a lot of people, life has trudged on even though the world has changed the past year in ways that will go down in history. We may find ourselves spiraling into our own subconsciousness just to find it even messier than our new reality. In our modern world, a lot of things are out of our control. Personally, I think that that is a good thing. Not being able to control every aspect of our lives is, in some ways, the only way to live. Recently, I have had to come to terms with not being in control all of the time. I can sympathize with those of us who worry over every little detail because I am the exact same way, but at a certain point, you have to let go of what you can’t control.
2020 has been a rollercoaster, in both good and bad ways. What I’ve found solace in to manage everything going on around me is creativity. Creative outlets have always let my mind slip away from the stressors of reality and have encouraged me to see everything in a different light. To try and gain a semblance of peace during this pandemic, I’ve turned towards the arts: painting, reading, writing, listening to music. Those are some of the things I do that might work for you, but everyone is different. If you have something else that allows you to remove yourself from the stress of our modern world, do it.
I encourage you to set whatever you’re doing right now to the side, and do something creative. Let go of what you can’t control, and find comfort in the fact that no one else can control anything either.
