Dealing with COVID-19 Anxiety One Year Later
by Dr. Liz Matheis, published in The Mighty 3/2021
COVID-19 anxiety. Pandemic anxiety. It’s still here, one year later. It’s transformed, morphed into something new with a little something old.
In the days leading up to March 13, 2021, I became emotional and dreaded seeing that date on my calendar. I didn’t realize that, in my body and spirit, I knew that the one-year mark was coming up and I was feeling increasingly anxious and stressed by the idea of this “new normal” becoming “normal.” I don’t want it to be normal anymore.
We are all tired of feeling anxious about the coronavirus. We have learned to adapt to new routines such as masks, disinfecting our hands, disinfecting surfaces and keeping distance from people in a store or on the street. These new routines are not natural and they are taking a toll on our mental, emotional and physical health.