“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
~ James Baldwin
Life, as we know it, has changed. For me, it was March 17, 2020, when the government declared what they called an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), otherwise known as “lockdown,” to the rest of the world.
Under ECQ, we had to stay behind closed doors to stem the growing threat of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Work, leisure, everything stopped. Going out for necessities like buying groceries, medicines, and taking care of financial obligations became a nightmare of epic proportions with the country’s economic lifeline shut down.
Today, with no signs of the pandemic running its course—it seems that everyone is left holding an empty bag of whys, what-ifs, and what-should-have-been. Worse is knowing that everyone, regardless of race and ethnicity, has been touched by this scourge. Not one of us can proudly say that we have not been affected or lost someone we know.
How do we cope?
For me, besides attending to my family and work obligations, I read. And I read a lot. As of this writing, I have read a total of 392 books. I only need to finish reading 108 books to reach my promise to read 500 for this year.
Reading is my escape, my stress-reliever. Lately, and no offense to my favorite authors, I have been concentrating on short reads. These stories are usually less than 2 hours long, with light themes, and most often, out-of-this-world storylines. Most of all, they end up with HEAs—happily-ever-after endings—that make me smile the moment I turn the last page.
Kali Hart, Hope Ford, Loni Ree, Fern Fraser, Tory Baker—they are just some of the authors whose books I have been bingeing on the past few months. Unlike the authors that I usually write reviews for, whose books are often hours long to read or listen to, these authors provide, for me, an escape from what seems like a never-ending pandemic and its Pandora’s box of unwanted surprises.
“Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real.”
~ Nora Ephron
Learning how to manage stress takes time, practice, and most of all, acceptance that we are stressed and need to do something about it. To deny that we are stressed only compounds the issues surrounding our emotional, mental, physical, and, yes, our “spiritual” selves. Plus, denying that we are stressed; often creates a domino effect affecting the people in our lives.
The pandemic has upended everyone, and as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) said, “many of us are facing challenges that can be stressful, overwhelming, and cause strong emotions in adults and children.”
“Public health actions, such as social distancing, are necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they can make us feel isolated and lonely and can increase stress and anxiety,” the CDC adds. The CDC emphasizes that learning to cope with stress healthily will make us, the people we care about, and those around us, more resilient against these trying times.
Most important, the CDC said, is to understand that it is natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to SkillsYouNeed, different people find different things stressful, and people can also cope with different levels of pressure before becoming stressed.
Stress can arise as the result of many factors, including life events, work, and the behavior of others. Therefore, we must learn to identify and manage our triggers for us to cope.
How can we manage stress? Simply follow WebMd’s 10 Steps to Manage Stress:
- Exercise Working out regularly is one of the best ways to relax your body and mind. Plus, exercise will improve your mood. But you have to do it often for it to pay off.
- Relax Your Muscles When you’re stressed, your muscles get tense.
- Deep Breathing Stopping and taking a few deep breaths can take the pressure off you right away.
- Eat Well Eating a regular, well-balanced diet will help you feel better in general.
- Slow Down Modern life is so busy, and sometimes we just need to slow down and chill out.
- Take a Break You need to plan on some real downtime to give your mind time off from stress.
- Make Time for Hobbies You need to set aside time for things you enjoy.
- Talk About Your Problems If things are bothering you, talking about them can help lower your stress.
- Go Easy on Yourself Accept that you can’t do things perfectly no matter how hard you try.
- Eliminate Your Triggers Figure out what are the biggest causes of stress in your life.
Everyone has their way of coping with stress. I read. Some watch movies; some take long walks, some pray, etc. Dealing with stress is personal, and we must always strive to find ways of coping that will strike a positive impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.
Here’s hoping the coming year will see us all in a better place, one where we can breathe freely, deeply, and safely, once again.
*WebMD provides valuable health information, health-management tools, and support to those who seek information.
**The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the national public health agency of the United States and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
***SkillsYouNeed is a website that provides high quality information and resources to help one learn and develop the skills needed to make the most of everyday life.
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