But there’s a second category of worry here. And this one, arguably, might be worth cultivating: the worry about returning to a global normal we’d rather not come back to. The pandemic broke open public discourse around issues that were either typically sidestepped — mental health struggles, for instance — or accepted with little resistance, like the rigidity of the modern workday. Will returning to normal life mean sweeping these hard conversations back under the rug?
As University of San Diego student Lily Yates told me, “I think people’s increased willingness to intentionally care more for their mental health during the pandemic reveals the problem of just how taboo it is during ‘normal’ times. We shouldn’t need to cite a global pandemic to take extra time for ourselves and set necessary boundaries at work and school. The idea that everyone is ‘okay’ at all times — and that we should pretend we are if we’re not — has been shattered, and it should stay that way.”
So, our first issue today: mental health. It seems like for many years mental health problems have been a taboo, a sign of weakness, something people would rather not to talk about. And in 2020 as the pandemic took place, all of a sudden people are expressing their feelings towards how their mental health has been severely crushed. For example, isolation has evoked loneliness. Decreasing income has caused anxiety.
How would you describe your overall mental health during the lockdown?
For example, if you feel disassociation with the community, try to describe how it feels and how you deal with it.
Have you ever thought of seeking professional helps for mental health issues?
Did you take special care of your mental health during the lockdown? How did you manage to maintain your mental health?
Are you more aware of yourself and your mental health during the lockdown?
Does the pandemic allows you to take more time with yourself? What have you discovered?
How we talk and think about mental health is another major concern. Several people told me they feel the pandemic has left them with PTSD, while others said it exacerbated preexisting conditions like depression. But an undercurrent in the responses was the idea that the pandemic was a seismic event that made it socially permissible to foreground mental health and self-care — something that wasn’t necessarily true before Covid-19 came along.
I'm also interested in talking about productivity:
Yates, the college student, feels the pressure of our achievement-obsessed society even at her young age. “The pandemic has only more completely exposed the complete worship of work and productivity inherent to the systems around me. My university refused to extend pass-fail grading options after the first pandemic semester, and gave no overarching guidance for professors to help support students during (for many of us) the longest traumatic period of our lives,” she said.
“After many conversations with my roommates and peers, it’s become very real to us that productivity has been consistently prioritized over our mental health, safety, and well-being,” she added. “My feelings of betrayal from systems that were supposedly in place to protect me will stick with me for a long time to come.”
