Good morning beautifuls!

Noticing a lot of ppl feeling an intensified sense of “losing my shit” this week, and thought I’d chime in

Sometimes it helps feel less crazy if you know *why* right now feels worse than, say, a month ago (thread )

The past 6 months have been incredibly stressful - the fact that we’ve somewhat acclimated & found new routines doesn’t change that

I’ve been comparing it to having a 20lb weight in your bag. You might forget it’s there sometimes, but you’re STILL CARRYING AN EXTRA 20lbs! (2)

This means that, off the bat, a good chunk of our stress resilience is already used up every day

It’s why it’s been hard to concentrate, why you may have felt more irritable or tearful, or just less able to handle life in general (3)

And again, in the beginning we all KNEW this & (hopefully) cut ourselves some slack

But as we’ve adjusted to the new reality, we’ve started to expect our functioning to be “back to normal” too - so have our bosses and school admins, etc. (4)

Spoiler alert: NOTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL

Our brains are terrible with uncertainty, not being able to plan adds to the stress

And COVID is a stressful threat! (5)

Add in frustrated rage at the gov’ts botched response - both intentionally and due to incompetence

Add in your rage & grief at unnecessary loss of lives

Add in your rage & grief about police brutality (6)

Add in the important and intense work you may be doing to fight all of this - or just manage the ways it’s affected you personally

Add in financial/job/housing insecurity

Add in relationship & childcare stress

Add in whatever else you may be personally coping with (7)

We need to remember why we’re so exhausted. It’s not a character flaw. It’s a long list of factors that have been intensified and/or created by a global pandemic

It still doesn’t feel good, but maybe it helps in terms of believing that you deserve compassion (8)

Why does it all feel worse right now?

These are just my thoughts, but maybe they will resonate

The back-to-school issue has been incredibly stressful. Waiting to see if schools would reopen, wondering if it’s safe, looking for alternatives, managing judgment from others (9)

It affects those of us who are child-free too. Maybe you’re in education. Maybe it’s just been infuriating to watch children & schools wielded as a political weapon.

Furthermore, to some extent we all think of fall as “back to business” time (10)

So it’s incredibly discouraging to be ending summer & starting fall still under quarantine

Somewhere in the summer most of us made peace with the fact that this was going to take awhile, but it’s a different thing to be facing a new season with no end in sight (11)

There are other factors that make starting a school year online or socially distanced more stressful too - getting to know new teachers/profs/students, adapting learning materials, or adjusting to new technology, etc (12)

In the spring we could, a little, say “oh well, we’re doing our best” - but expectations are different now, even if all the challenges still exist

This is true for many people at work too

So we’re emotionally still overloaded, but feel pressure to be back at full capacity (13)

If you feel like you’re at your breaking point,

you’re not crazy,
you’re not overreacting,
and you’re definitely not alone

It’s mentally exhausting to be entering a new season with COVID still hanging over our heads - especially since it didn’t have to be this way (14)

You don’t have control over everything that’s happening - and certainly people are facing different levels of crisis as assistance gets pulled (I mentioned the rage & grief, right?)

But try to show yourself some compassion. Make a little space for the rage & grief (15)

Be kind to yourself. Try to nourish yourself with what you need, including sleep, food, friends, whatever refuels you or brings you joy

Know that you will probably need to do more of that right now, and it’s ok if you’re not doing it perfectly (16)

Even a 5 minute mental break just to acknowledge & feel can help

3 deep breaths can help

Laughing with your pet, or kids, or online friends can help

Taking a walk can help

Knowing that you’re not alone can help

I hope maybe this helps, at least a little (end)