Facing Depression During COVID-19
by Marlow

Every now and then, there comes a period of time in our lives where we suddenly do not feel like our usual selves. Our mood is suddenly downtrodden, our motivation on the slopes, and the happiness we once knew until then has disappeared. I, like countless others, have experienced depression at least once in my short life. It is something that I try to avoid to the best of my ability, but there are moments when it is unavoidable despite my best efforts. During the pandemic, though states are reopening at a cautious rate, there are still a vast number of people who may not know when they may return to work, how they might feed their families, and how they can bargain with their landlords and mortgages.With all of these and countless other situations arising with COVID, the feeling of depression has fallen upon some of those affected by everything happening over these past months.

While depression may not have affected as many people, in recent years, there has no doubt been a surge in the amount of it lately. The symptoms of depression have descended upon us more than we know. When looked at in its entirety, depression is not just simply having a bad day (as one might believe), nor is depression just having to sleep it off and hoping that it all will change by tomorrow. Depression can take various forms and can cripple you with dread and just the very thought of it makes me worry. I have been fortunate enough not to experience many of the severe forms that depression can  take, though it does not exclude me from encountering them in the foreseeable future. Other symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, loneliness, emptiness, low energy levels, tiredness, restlessness, agitation, worthlessness, guilt, and other indicators that signify depression is present if not already underway.

Fortunately, as time progresses there are more ways to handle various forms of depression that besiege us in life.  These can chase away the dark cloud that looms overs us. Recently, I was notified that a family member of mine has COVID and the news of it made me drop my phone. It felt like a Lifetime movie moment or something. It took quite some time to calm myself down after hearing it. Of course, I thought of the worst outcomes because it only gets worse before it gets better. And though I wanted to immediately go and see them, I knew that I would risk becoming sick and possibly transmitting it to my parents. I am still dealing with the possibilities surrounding their recovery and I am hopeful that things will get better. I actually just spoke to them today. Their voice had more life in it and it brought a lot of comfort to my sanity knowing that they were no longer feeling tired all through the day, not eating for weeks, or having fevers over one hundred degrees. The amount of fear that I had initially when I was told sent me into a state of despair and sadness that I could not have imagined in all my years.

In order to cope with the news of her and other events that were unfolding at the time, I had to save what was left of myself by meditating. At first, my attempts did not go so well because I did not know how to quiet my mind. However, after time and enough concentration, I found it possible to not only collect my thoughts, but to calm my nerves, even if it was for a few hours at a time. There were times where I felt as though the falls were closing in on me. I’d turn on my Xbox One console and play the Division 2 or Destiny 2, any game that had enough adventure, action, and story to lose myself in. The first way I would consider healing any symptoms of depression would be by calling someone you care about and speaking with them everyday. I did this with my family member. Call them even if you have not spoken to them in a while. Even if you were estranged from them for a long period of time, it makes for an ever better reason to check in on them. 

This is not the time to dwell on any past hostilities that you may have had at one point in time with that person. If you have ever cared for them in any capacity, it would probably cheer them up to know that you thought about them and reached out. Life is too short to dwell on any past altercations that prevent you from reaching a common ground with someone, even if you have disagreed with them at some point in the past or recently. If you do not have someone you are close with, then there are always family members, friends, old flames, even a co-worker you have a healthy relationship with you can check in on. Another way to heal depression would be by trying to laugh. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. They say laughter is the best medicine and there is no shortage of material on the internet to keep me from rolling on the floor with laughter, especially with the iconic video performance of Micheal Jackson singing “Brad what are you going to do.” 

Though at first glance these solutions may not seem like much, they are worth trying if nothing else has worked to ease your mind. I hope that everyone can exhale a sigh of relief at some point during all of this as things. Slowly but surely they will return to normal as time moves forward.