Overcoming The 2020 Mental Health Spiral
Alright team huddle up. Let’s be honest. 2020 is a nightmare. It’s just one unprecedented crisis after another, each of which gets you feeling some type of way and throws you further from your original game plan. It’s been brutal for just about everyone, not to mention those dealing with anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
But no fear, there is hope. I’ve discovered this one magic trick that will calm your even the most triggered soul in just five quick minutes.
Just kidding. There ain’t no quick fixes with mental health. Quit playin’ yourself.
But I do have a story about how I found hope in a hopeless place.
The Horrifying 2020 Fear Spiral
So since quarantine started, once a week or so I’ve found myself paralyzed with fear wondering if the world is about to end. You know what I’m talking about. The classic can’t get out of bed, probably emotionally eating, unable to say anything remotely positive, 2020 fear spiral.
Super cute I know.
The first few times this happened, I just wallowed in them for extended periods of time assuming this was the new norm.
Then one wildly hopeless day, when I had never been more certain that the apocalypse was right around the corner, I found hope.
The Answer: Fight Or Flight
I realized that I had two options.
Option A — Flight | I could continue drowning in my woes ensuring absolutely nothing improved for myself or others.
Option B — Fight | I could do something about it.
With a global pandemic looming and deep-seated systemic conflicts erupting, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed, feel helpless, and do nothing.
That helplessness isn’t your fault, it’s human psychology. It’s called the paradox of choice. The more options a person has, the less likely they are to make a decision – and the less happy they are.
So to snap out of it, you need to simplify choices — fight or flight.
You can do nothing OORRRR you can do one small thing to solve your — or the world’s — problems? If you’re depressed, do one small thing that brings you joy. If you’re worried about money, go the extra mile on your current work project. Or send one new job application. If you want to end systemic racism, make one phone call to an elected official.
Because cliché or not, it’s true that small wins snowball into big victories.
Now this may not have been the rah-rah-shish-koom-bai-yah you were looking for, but it’s the one you’re getting.
So from here on out, whenever you feel the 2020 fear spiral start to sink in…just say to yourself “Fight or Flight”, and then do one small thing to change your game.
