How To Stay Sane In 2020
Are There A Few Takeaways We Need to Stay Sane In 2020!?
I am writing to you from Tempe, Arizona –– a place with top-notch tacos, a human-made lake that we use for recreation, and an Airport that sends 45 million people in and out of the state every year. We get well over 300+ sunny days every year. It's about 6:45 pm; there's a gorgeous sunset cascading across the mini-skyline directly in front of me. I can hear the thunder of a 747 as it ascends to the east. I'm nibbling on sliced pineapple with a dash of tajin over it. My mood is playful, hopeful, and focused.
Arizona
People come here looking for a good time, to get a break from their colder climates, and to kick back and unwind. Arizona, if you have not been, is a place that I 100% recommend you visit. At the time of this essay (summer 2020), we're struggling through a pandemic. However, the world will get back to moving around again, and whenever that is for you, please consider visiting Arizona between November and May. You will love it.
I moved here in 2012 with an escapism mindset, and I don't say that as a positive or a negative. It's more so as a recognition of the mindset I had, in retrospect. I needed to get out of Illinois, and if I didn't, I 100% can say that you wouldn't know me or my work. I was suffering so much in my life that I genuinely don't know where the healing light would've come from. Moving out of Chicago gave me new freedom; it gave me the ability to heal; it gave me access to a new life. I needed to escape the life that was in front of me. Since then, I have recovered and mended my relationship with Chicago –– a story I tell in my next book, Loving Yourself Properly.
We find ourselves In a dream that nobody asked for, the nightmare of COVID-19 Coronavirus. I have not written about it yet because I have had to do so much mental processing, grieving, and healing. I would even argue that I am still figuring out –– just like you –– how to manage this new normal. This year has been quite a challenge for my mental health. I had to dive in, change, and shift a lot about who I was and my principles to be well. I am still trying to learn how to get my mental health as high as it can be. I will share with you a few things I learned about myself during this period.
What I Have Learned During COVID-19 Lockdown
There is no such thing as a guarantee. Deep down inside, we all want security, we want answers, and want to know what will happen in the future. We often have feelings of anxiety because we are unsure of a moment, of what may come from it. COVID-19 has taught me to break up with the idea that anything is guaranteed. For my mental health and peace of mind, I have no desire to set myself up for the expectation of looking for a guarantee.
I need to adjust quickly – It is a powerful lesson that I am learning in this very moment, literally as I write this to you. I live in Arizona; my state was one of the first to reopen after a piss poor effort at closing. Hell, I remember going for my daily three-mile walk, and I saw droves of people packing the bars in the college town where I reside.
When you hear college town, you instantly think of twenty-somethings who don't care about anything, but no, it was full-blown adults I saw acting as if COVID wasn't a thing back in April and March. I remember saying to myself, "They're not going to take this seriously until it hits close to home." We, Arizona, eventually became the number one hotspot for COVID in the world. On another note, I have no idea if these numbers and everything they claim is right. I don't trust or believe everything I hear and see, but hey, that's what they said.
I was very disappointed and still am in the information delivered to us, the general public. We deserve to get the truth, so we can adjust and make the right decisions. One day they tell us to wear a mask, and then they say don't because it doesn't help, which for a broad audience, which is highly uneducated in virology that, to me, sounds like one of the last tactics you'd want to employ.
But here's the thing –– I cannot control anything related to this virus, how the information is given, or how other people behave and react in life. I need to focus on what I can control. Moving forward, what we have to do, especially in uncertain, new, and confusing situations, we must allow ourselves to adapt quickly. As circumstances change and our feelings towards them change, we give ourselves personal freedom once we allow ourselves to shift, to be in motion.
Gym Life & Other Musings
I love going to the gym for 1-2 hours a day. I love to hit my three-mile walk in the mornings, the gym shortly after around 8 am. And then at night, I like to get a run in, ride my bike, or maybe go on another walk. If I am at home, naturally, that is how my day flows. Earlier, I told you to visit here, Nov-May. Some people don't mind the heat. I have grown to learn that I enjoy mild weather; I'm not too fond of too cold or too hot temperatures. In the summer's previously, I have adjusted by traveling for work during the summer, and I usually subtract my bike rides and walks because of the heat. In the summers, I find myself dedicating twice as much more time to the gym due to the weather, but not this summer.
In Arizona, the governor has decided that the Gyms do not need to be open (at this time), which brings me a great deal of confusion. Logically, I don't get it. Why is the casino open? Why can I go to Top Golf? Are you sitting here and trying to convince me that the Casino and Top Golf are better places for me to be then a controlled gym environment, HA!? To give you context, I use an apartment gym. They were only allowing five people to be in the gym at one time. The local chain gyms also had restrictions on capacity. Imagine if a gym hosted a massive event during a pandemic, that would be a shame, right? It would be a shame if a gym let 20,000-30,000 people in it during an epidemic.
The Former Arizona Health Director says that the gyms should be allowed open. He thinks that they actually can be safer than some of the other businesses we have operating now. There is no reason to keep these facilities closed any longer if they comply with the standards already proposed by current Health Director Cara Christ, Will Humble said in a document obtained by Capitol Media Services. He said any gym or fitness center that meets those standards would pose less of a risk to public health than grocery and other retail stores that are now allowed to operate.
Reading this article gave me a ray of hope because I would love to return to the gym. Soon, I hope they find a solution that works for my crowd of people that is safe. It has become one of my mental health safe havens. I hope, wherever you are, that you find mental health safe havens that help you too.
I watch my food closely now.
I've found myself at different points of this pandemic eating well, and then, there was a stretch where I ordered restaurant food because I had no motivation to cook.
I ordered out for three straight weeks. I like to think that I made healthy decisions, but let's be honest. If you want to use your money wisely and effectively, you should get groceries and prepare your meals and make sure nothing goes to waste. If you're going to eat healthily, you should know what ingredients and portion sizes are going in your body. Let's not pretend as if the portion sizes at restaurants aren't massive.
I LOVE dining out. I love getting dressed, picking a place with a great ambiance, and enjoying a night out on the town. If I didn't do what I do now for a career, I am convinced I would be in culinary somehow. I am a certified foodie, and my dad was a Chef who taught me a lot about food and flavors at a young age. Sometimes, when I'm working on my projects, I'll have cooking videos playing in the background. I don't know if that is a secret to writing great essays or not, but I know that I am getting ravenous now, HA!
Lastly, I hope you are well. I tried to write this in a lighter tone from the right place in my heart. This year has brought us different challenges, and I hope these 1,600 words brought you some value. My takeaways are:
Adjust quickly
Control what you can control
Allow yourself to process emotions
Find safe havens
Be aware of food choices
Have fun and enjoy life
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading today, and I hope something good happens to you today!
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