These precarious times we are living in can really make you contemplate and reflect on where we are in this world. It’s been almost two months of the social distancing experiment, or the new normal. No one saw this coming when 2020 started and its even harder to envision what this really means for the rest of the year or the foreseeable future. The reality is, many of us are dealing with these thoughts, needing therapy, having trouble processing it and making sense of it all.
This past week, I finally jumped on some personal zoom calls, one with friends and one with family. For all the weeks preceding this I had only been using zoom for my work meetings and professional opportunities. I’ve been so consumed with work and adjusting to working from home that I didn’t even realize how much i missed my friends and family. I mean, I knew it, but speaking to them, it really hit me how much I needed to talk things out with people who could relate and understand because they were sharing in the common experience. Talking to co-workers just wasn’t cutting it.
On the video chats we talked about what we learned about ourselves during this quarantine and social distancing time. We talked about how much we have grown. We went over goals for the rest of our alone time and pointed out things we wanted to continue doing once outside really opened back up. Both calls were so therapeutic and everything I didn’t realize I even needed. But it didn’t feel like enough.
Then I got to thinking that I need to have these conversations consistently, and not just with my friends and family. It was great having that time to share with them, but it was still filled with laughs, drinks and us getting sidetracked every few minutes with whatever was going on in someone’s background. While me and others shared, there was no time to process and reflect. I wanted to continue the conversations, for me. That’s when I decided that during this time I would like to start therapy or counseling.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have friends or family that they can talk to. And the reality is that with everything happening right now, we all have something we are dealing with. That’s where a professional comes in. I’m hoping that’s the case at least, although I know it may take some time to find the right person.
In these times I will also need to consider a number of other things before I can actually start therapy. Will I be able to find an online therapist who is doing video calls? What will the therapy cost and will it be affordable? And when will I be able to fit it in?
May is Mental Health Awareness month. This is the perfect time for anyone to focus on their mental health and well-being. For me, that means starting therapy or counseling. And maybe it’s time for you to look into it as well.
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