What the Quarantine Era Taught Me About Mental Health
I learned how fragile the mind can be during quarantine and how we can learn from that experience
This week is mental health awareness week. It is from October 4th to the 10th. The middle of March is when the entire nation got locked down. A lot has happened since. I remember telling my family back in May I was afraid of people losing their minds because of the mental effects of quarantine. Back in March, I was working in San Francisco, California, the first city to go into lockdown. I left immediately before the first week of lockdown to go be with family. I remember the uncertainty amongst my colleagues. I remember getting on that flight to leave San Francisco and it resembling a ghost flight. There were only ten people total on the flight. That empty flight was symbolic of what was to come for everyone, a somber reminder that uncertainty for the moment will be the only constant. As the nation started lockdown, we entered the quarantine era.
The Loss of Human Connection
For most Americans, the strict and tough quarantine period back in March was spent with family. But for some of us, we spent it alone. Although I was now with my family, I was still alone. I was back in Arkansas in a small town with less than 500 people. I am an introvert at heart but the toll of isolation due to quarantine for months started to take a toll on me mentally. I missed people, I missed human connection. I missed the little things I took for granted like meeting new people. We need human connection. In the story of the bible, God banished Cain to wander the earth alone for killing his brother. My point is if the man upstairs thinks being alone is punishment then maybe we need each other after all. Make an effort just to say hello to a stranger. You would be surprised what small acts like this can do for our mental health and other’s as well.
The Loss of Freedom
In the first week of quarantine, I felt like a caged animal. I am a rebellious person by nature so I struggle with any type of restrictions whether it is physical or mental. For years I have been traveling from place to place, from country to country much like a mailman goes from house to house, effortlessly. Listening to the news watching each country shut down airlines and all travel was gut-wrenching. For the average American, this meant absolutely nothing due to other priorities but for anyone in the travel industry or digital nomads, this was a sad day. People like us have traveled and unknowingly have taken this privilege for granted for a while. Not only is travel a privilege but it is freedom. It is freedom from mental stress. I listened to other travelers’ stories about how they missed travel and how it was affecting their mental health. Not having the freedom to go whereas you please leaves you feeling like a prisoner in your own home. It’s okay to take a car ride to nowhere. Your mind needs to feel free, free from the restrictions.
The Loss of Health
I was an athlete in high school. As a fitness enthusiast, I have carried those fitness habits and knowledge into my adult years. For a very long time, I have been able to maintain an athletic physique because of this. Quarantine made me realize I was a robot when it came to my health. It made me realize I had started to loth working out. I was only exercising because I was doing it so long and it was hard to turn off. Exercising for over an entire decade was a part of my DNA as the habit came easily to me as breathing. Three months after quarantine around June, my abs turned into a beer belly. I had gotten lazy during the lockdown. It just wasn’t that I had a brand new soft belly, but my health had deteriorated due to my weight gain. I was lethargic, I had sore joints, and had constant mental fatigue. But the biggest obstacle is what it did to me mentally. Body image issues are usually synonymous with women by the media. But men have them too. Here I was as a former personal trainer, a man who has enjoyed life with a lean physique now facing weight problems. Our habits become a part of us whether they are constructive or destructive. My habits from athlete years allowed me to lose the weight and get my lean physique back. When it comes to our mental and physical health, it comes down to our habits because they will help or hurt us.
The Loss of Self
A month into lockdown, I heard countless stories about travelers getting stranded in other countries due to quarantine rules each country had levied. This included stopping all flights which led to people getting stranded. Anyone who is an experienced traveler knows that solo travel can be lonely at times. But being faced with the thought of being locked down in another country that you didn’t plan by yourself gave me flashbacks. I haven't been exposed to a PTS ordeal but an experience I had a few years ago in Ireland came to me like a vivid dream. I was deported from Dublin, Ireland over a miscommunication between immigration and myself. I was put in a prison cell for days before I was deported. It was there I learned why prisoners go to solitary confinement for punishment. My experience was similar, spending days completely isolated without knowing the future. Spending too much time by yourself without activities to boost those happy feeling chemicals of serotonin can be a gateway to a lot of dark thoughts. And now, I would see news stories of people committing suicide because they couldn’t handle quarantine. That's why hearing stories about the stranded travelers conjured up those old memories. From my experience and the stories I saw, it is possible for any sane person to lose one’s self if put in similar predicaments.
We always need to be constantly evaluating our mental health.
