Coping Through COVID-19 Becky Strong
T
he world has and continues to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our altered lives are uncomfortable as we have gone from social beings to being sequestered in our homes. This situation is unpredictable, unpleasant, and uncontrollable. Information is ever-changing, and we are all feeling the stress. As we monitor our physical health by taking our temperatures, watching for symptoms of COVID19, and checking for lesions from pemphigus or pemphigoid, it is equally important to check in with ourselves about our mental health. We need to be kind to ourselves. No one has ever experienced this situation before. It is also important to recognize that when we feel worried, we may not process information in the same way we did prior to the pandemic. We may develop biased thinking when we are anxious, and it’s possible to have selective attention and lack of concentration. In my own experience, my way of thinking becomes very black-and-white, I jump to conclusions easily, and I forget about the significance of gray areas.
