Pandemic and social isolation: Breathe, the pandemic will pass

It was March 9, 2020, it was a common day after the university holidays, we were at Praça Mauá, me and my friends, after months of vacation and working hard, it was good to meet friends again, we were finally having fun and thinking about nothing. It was a full moon, the night was beautiful. The day was really good, doing these little things, like: meeting friends, watching the sunset, watching the moon, it was so simple and good, nothing extraordinary, but good. But we didn’t know it would be the last day that we would leave the house carefree.
Today, we don’t know more than the quarantine day, we don’t know how many months have passed, we feel on a roller coaster of emotions and events.
Despite the physical and mental chaos that social isolation causes us, there are reports of very precious moments, doing other activities much: cooking and self-care.
But there are also bad times, which unfortunately are more common than good times. The diagnosis of mental disorders and illnesses increased in the pandemic, as did the demand for specialists like psychiatrists and psychologists. Chaos of anxiety and depression have increased exponentially, and when there is still no vaccine the way is to try to breathe and wait for it to pass, and seek the help of a specialist.
Part of this increase may be charged to the pandemic and social isolation, but the increase in mental disorders and other social problems is also a reflection of how sick our society has been for a long time. Neglect with our health, physical and mental, is not only in quarantine, but throughout our lives, as we live in a world where we have to be productive all the time. It is good to admit that we didn’t succeed and that we have our limits. Because of the social isolation, we fall into the farse, that we now have more free time, so consequently we can do more things, but the reality has proved to be the opposite. So what we can keep and calm. And breathe.
The act of breathing, which seems so simple, is often only automatic and unconscious, we forget its importance, we forget to connect with ourselves. Stop for a while and breathe, and see that despite the chaos outside, all is not lost.
We do not yet know what life will be like after the end of the pandemic, we are hopeful for the vaccine and for the change in the toxic habits of our society. We are hopeful that many things will change and for the better.
We are still on a roller coaster, we feel butterflies in my stomach, fear, nervous, the urge to laugh and cry, the urge to scream, among other swirls of emotions that we honestly don’t know the name of. But how good we are feeling, because it means we are alive, and thankfully we’re alive.
(the yellow September has passed but it is always good to remember the awareness about mental health and life prevention!)