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posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 23 2020, @03:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the would-you-like-to-talk-about-it? dept.

How to keep your sanity when you feel like the world is going crazy:

Hi there. How are you feeling today?

It's a loaded question right now. Many of us are having extraordinary feelings in response to extraordinary times. Hundreds of millions of people here in the United States and around the world are doing their best to help contain the spread of novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 by following World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control guidelines and, bluntly, staying the heck away from other people.

Even for a born introvert like yours truly, the era of prolonged, enforced social distancing is hard. Folks are either stuck at home alone, stuck at home with their families, or still having to go out into the world every day to work—either because their work is vital or their employers are being stubborn—and all the while, we're being buffeted by government warnings and endless waves of frightening news.

In short: right now, we're all exchanging some measure of our mental health in order to preserve our own and others' physical health, and that has limits. We're all in this together, for several weeks and months, if not longer, and basically, we need to avoid driving ourselves and each other crazy if we're going to get through it.

That, of course, is easier said than done. To that end, we called up mental health experts to ask what, realistically, we should all be doing to help ourselves and others.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by shortscreen on Monday March 23 2020, @04:32AM (1 child)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Monday March 23 2020, @04:32AM (#974324) Journal

    Same here. I'm at home doing whatever I want. Neither unusual nor trying. Your sailing or hermit on the mountain scenarios don't sound bad either, though I'm not sure if I'm up for the astronaut one ;)

    Now, if I was a kid hearing the news that I would be out of school for months at a time I'd be freaking out like a gameshow contestant who just won a million bucks.

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2020, @06:05AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 23 2020, @06:05AM (#974335) Journal

    Very nearly the same here. New Year days have always been a day of reflection for me. I reflect on some of the really dismal places and circumstances in which I've spent my New Year, as well as the best places. Well, this is something like a New Year. None of us alive today can remember anything quite like this pandemic. 9/11 had some similarities, but not a lot. We haven't faced anything like this before, so it's comparable to a New Year, in a way.

    And, the circumstances in which I find myself today are quite comfortable. I'm in my own home, with the woman I chose for a mate, and the kids around. I've got food, water, shelter, and I'm comfortable. The internet, where I can bullshit with everyone at SN, and beyond.

    OK, I'll admit, I'm still working, so I don't have the financial pressure that a lot of other people have at the moment. Still, people aren't being evicted for being a month behind on rent, are they? Power companies aren't turning off electricity, are they? Water isn't being turned off. Food. If you have access to food, then things can't be too bad, can they?

    I've got things good, and I doubt that very many people in the US actually have it bad.

    More of us should have traveled, to see what "bad" is.