You also need to pay more attention to yourself and be mindful of how you spend time with yourself. That way, you’ll be able to recognise when that ‘alone time’ is turning into ‘lonely time’, or when staying at home is making you feel isolated.
The recent Coronavirus pandemic and this self-isolation period has, to an extent, shown many of us how comfortable – or uncomfortable – we are with ourselves. We have become forced to consciously experience what it is like to live with ourselves.
The pandemic has shown us just how disruptive anything can be for us when it’s not the norm.
While this issue with the pandemic is only temporary, the situation is still one that certainly shocked us the moment we were asked to do something different, or not do something that we’re already used to doing.
The worry and panic about this virus is something we can all relate to. Its effects are similar and felt across the world. But how does it feel when we are forced to ‘live with ourselves’? Is it threatening? Or boring? Or overwhelming?
Many people spend years, or a lifetime, doing everything in their power to avoid being alone – with themselves. For some people, even the thought of looking in the mirror can actually make their stomachs turn.
This is a period where we can rediscover ourselves and find true meanings to life and situations. We can take life back to a time when we enjoyed the simpler things in our lives.
We can appreciate the calmness of our homes, and do things that we hardly do these days, like reading a book, a magazine, taking out time to pray and read that devotion you’ve not opened since January (I’m not judging you. Haha) or even seeing a movie. Whew!
So far, I’ve tried to take this entire experience for what it offers. It gives me the reminder that although the restriction is mandatory, that doesn’t mean we should just sit back and restrict our own living.
Acceptance, too, is a major tool in our lives that will either make us or break us. It’s not so easy to accept ourselves for who we are, but it can really be valuable when we practice it.
You also need to pay more attention to yourself and be mindful of how you spend time with yourself. That way, you’ll be able to recognise when that ‘alone time’ is turning into ‘lonely time’, or when staying at home is making you feel isolated.
We all deserve to have a chance to be able to see through the fog and find peace, even in the midst of this pandemic – and more peace when we are all alone, with ourselves.
For those of us who can find comfort within us, know that you will succeed through this.
At the end of the day, we will all be fine.
By Peter Molokwu
