Coping with the COVID stress

 

It has almost been a year now since we first got notified of everything shutting down because of COVID-19, but it has felt like a decade. I feel like I've been in college forever when in reality, last year, I was still a high schooler. During this long break, to cope with the pandemic stress/anxiety, I set up routines for my life. I enjoy going from task to task with a goal in mind. I focused on going to the gym every day, lifting a little heavier for each exercise every week I go. I learned new programming languages, developed new projects, looked ahead for classes and learned some probability. I try not to look back in the past because I feel that I'll be slowing down if I do. As a result, I don't re-watch many TV shows or books; after the first run-through, I like simply putting it away. However, I still get sucked into nostalgic pastimes such as playing board games with my family or playing Mario Party with my sister. Games were my childhood as I often did not have the means to watch TV or movies, so I often turn to them as my coping outlet. I'm sure, though, if an episode of SpongeBob popped up on the TV, I would watch and watch and watch. I will admit, there's something about old Disney shows such as Jessie and Good Luck Charlie that brings me a lot of nostalgia. Whenever my family and I stayed at a hotel, and my sister would turn on the TV to turn to Disney Channel, I would try and get work done, but I couldn't help myself but watch along. And the thing is that these shows keep coming and coming, and before you know it, three hours have gone by. Like how the article in The Atlantic said, these reruns of shows that I've already watch aren't exactly the most stimulating, but watching these types of shows didn't require me to invest too much attention or brainpower. It felt good to relax for once during stressful times. I think I'll try to stay away from Disney Channel for now with midterm season coming soon but knowing me; I'll probably watch more during those stressful times.