Covid journal

Everyone has a unique story with how COVID has impacted his or her life. How has it affected you? You may not think your story is interesting. But it is. Have you ever thought to write your story? It doesn’t have to be publish-worthy. It can just be a journal with some thoughts about how it has impacted you, how it has affected your mood, or changed relationships.

Interestingly enough, journaling is also a wonderful mental health tool. After being locked down for almost 2 months, many people are going stir crazy, or becoming more depressed or anxious. Just writing down your thoughts and feelings can improve your mood. The process of writing gets you from your emotional brain to your logical brain. This is great if you are anxious or depressed. So write down your thoughts and feelings. It’s like dropping a piece of heavy baggage.

In addition to being a wonderful mental health tool, it’s also a piece of history. Perhaps your children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren can read it. It’s a living piece of history. Look at Anne Frank’s Diary. Most people have read it. It’s her account of being in captivity. Obviously what we are going through is very different, but this has had a huge impact on all of our lives. Think about it. If you had a great grandparent who wrote down what was happening during the Spanish flu in the early 1900’s, wouldn’t you be fascinated? I’d want to know everything.

How to

There are no wrong or right ways to do something like this. You are the writer and can do it however you choose. You can write it for your eyes only as a way to help you with your mental health, or write it for future generations, or current family members.

As you know, I’m a mental health professional and I’m going through this trauma along with everyone else. I’m also aware that if I don’t keep on top of my own mental health, I won’t be in a place to help anyone else. Writing a COVID journal is something I am doing (along with several other tools I have taught clients) to keep my own mental health in the best available place.

Today I thought it might help to share with you how I am writing my own journal, along with some excerpts of it. Again, this certainly doesn’t mean it’s the best way, or right way to do it, but just an example.

Opening summary

Do you want to start with a summary of how you felt, from the first time you heard that you needed to wash your hands for 20 seconds, or use hand sanitizer? When did you first hear about the term ‘social distancing’? What did you think when people told you not to touch your face. Did you feel it was unsafe to touch elevator buttons, handrails, or other commonly touched areas?

How did you feel when you heard there was a limit as to the number of people who could be gathering at one time to decrease the chance for a massive outbreak? Then, what went though your mind as travel became restricted, or the need to quarantine for 2 weeks if you came from another country?

Then they closed all the bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, salons, etc. I don’t know about you, but my thought is that we stepped into another universe. We had heard of these things happening in other countries, but never here in the US. Never in my life did I ever imagine that I’d be afraid to go to the grocery store, even armed with mask, gloves and hand sanitizer. Each person I passed in the store could be someone that would give me a deadly virus. I wouldn’t even go down the same grocery aisle as other people if I could avoid it.

Impact on family members

What about your family members? How did it impact them? How did it change your relationship with them, or what did you need to do differently? I have a daughter who is a nurse. She doesn’t work with adults and is in a clinic. Each day she goes into work her temperature is checked and has to quarantine if she goes outside of the city of Houston before she can go back to work. When she gets home from work she has a decontamination process she goes through so as not to bring anything home with her, or get her husband sick.

The rest of us were able to work from home, so our risk was much lower.

COVID testing

Did any of your family members get tested for COVID?

My daughter who is a nurse got sick with a cough and fever. She was tested for COVID and was negative. She will be going back to work Monday after being out for 2 weeks. Even though she was fine after the first week, she wasn’t allowed back at work with a cough.

Another daughter lives by herself. After 4 weeks of social distancing she became lonely. She also had a cough at one point in time and was tested for COVID so she could go back to work. She was also negative. Since she was COVID negative and had already quarantined, she came to live with us until she feels comfortable going back to her apartment.

What does work look like?

Are you someone who can work from home? If so, you are among the lucky. I am doing telehealth and my husband is working from home. He has an upstairs office and I’m in a room downstairs. The daughter who came to live with us is able to do telehealth also. She has an office set up in a guest bedroom. The arrangement works out well.

Or are you considered essential personnel? If so, do you feel safe? Is your company providing you with protective gear so you don’t get sick? My heart goes out to those who do not feel safe, yet still have to work or risk losing their jobs. I can’t imagine the fear, anger or other emotions you may be feeling.

Family relationships

How is that going? Are you starting to get on each other’s nerves? Do you have kids at home and trying to work from home? Then on top of it you need to be sure they do their school work. I can’t even begin to imagine the challenges that brings along with it. Obviously dynamics are changing greatly.

Do you get along well with your partner? It must be difficult to be in such tight quarters if you don’t get along well. Hopefully by now you have found some sort of new normal.

Have you been connecting with your family more often? Many people are doing FaceTime with their parents, or Zoom meetings with other family members. How have you been connecting?

Sense of safety

How does the world look to you? Do you feel as safe going out and doing things as you have in the past. My guess is things are different. We are not allowed to do many of the things we took for granted. It has been deemed unsafe. Many people feel uncomfortable going to the grocery store. We may have dawdled in the past, but not we tend to get our food and get out. We have all been through a collective trauma, and we will look at life differently than we have before.

Writing your COVID journal will not only help your mental health, but also provide a fascinating chronicle for someone else to read about your life at this point in time.

If there you are struggling in any way, give me a call at 713-304-6554 and we will get you to a better place emotionally.

Take care,

Debbie