Signs you’re experiencing “pandemic fatigue” and what you can do about it …

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After the greater part of a year wearing masks, socially distancing from others, and otherwise having your “normal” life generally turned upside down, you might find yourself struggling with the very real symptoms of “pandemic fatigue.”

“Pandemic fatigue” is a mental fatigue setting in from experiencing an extended period of heightened fear, anxiety, a sense of loss, loneliness, or growing or deepening hopelessness. Some of the symptoms of experiencing pandemic fatigue include:

    • A sense of inner weariness which might be accompanied by a lack of motivation.
    • Finding it harder to focus and concentrate.
    • Feeling stressed about tasks or situations you usually handle well.
    • Not as interested in engaging in things you used to find enjoyable.
    • Withdrawn from others.
    • An unusual lack of compassion.
    • Increased procrastination.
    • Feeling (and/or being) disorganized.
    • Feeling frustrated, “edgy,” or nervous.
    • Increased irritation so that you snap at or argue with others.
    • Change in eating habits (eating more or eating less). This may be resulting in weight gain or loss.
    • Disruption of sleep pattern (sleeping more or sleeping less).
    • Consuming more alcohol and/or use of substances.
    • Growing or deepening despair or hopelessness about the future.

It’s not healthy for you to just let these symptoms have their way with you. Here are several things you can do to help counteract negative symptoms of pandemic fatigue:

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF SPIRITUALLY
Yes, as a human being you are a creature with a mind, emotions, a body, and the need to associate with others. But you are FIRST a spiritual being, so your first priority should be to take good care of your spiritual well-being. Unfortunately, there are several reports that at least one-third of all the people who used to attend church regularly are no longer “tuning in” to or connecting with their local church. Another study shows Christians are reading the Bible less during the pandemic and are inconsistent with their prayer life. In other words, many are doing the exact opposite of what they need to be doing to take good care of their spiritual health. Caring for your spiritual well-being should include:

    • Being committed to the daily reading and regular study of the Bible. Become a serious student of scripture! The NEED and priority here is you getting directly into your Bible, but you can also find some wonderful tools online to help you study the Bible. Two examples are RightNow Media, offering a huge online streaming library of Bible study videos (click here to explore this offering) and Ozark Christian College’s “Next Level” offering free online videos for adult studies, personal growth, and leadership development (click here for OCC Next Level).
    • The pandemic has helped to further reveal we need more than a “prayer life,” we need a life of prayer! Being diligent about conversing and communing with God is a powerful tool in overcoming pandemic fatigue. To help you dig deeper into prayer, you might want to check out my book, “Talking With God” (you can find the book here).
    • Many Christians have never been discipled by a more spiritually mature Christian. If you haven’t, this would be a great time to seek out someone to disciple you. If you’re not sure who could help you with this, contact your pastor or church leaders and let them know of your interest in a being in a discipling relationship with a spiritually mature Christian.
    • Nurture strong fellowship in your church, and stay active with the life and happenings of your local faith family.
    • Find ways to serve others.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF PHYSICALLY
With Christians reading their Bibles less, being inconsistent in prayer, and not connecting with their local churches, how are they dealing with the pandemic? One survey reports the primary way many Christians are choosing to deal with the pandemic is by watching TV and streaming movies. That paints a picture of becoming very sedentary – a terrible choice for your physical (and mental) well-being. To counteract the symptoms of pandemic fatigue, you need to take responsibility to take good care of your physical fitness and health, with some serious self-discipline given to these three things:

      • Ramp up your physical activity and physical exercise. At the very least, you need to make sure you’re remaining physically active (plenty of movement) instead of idling away your time lounging in front of screens on the couch or in bed. Get up and maintain plenty of movement throughout the day. One of the best things you can do for both your physical and mental health is to go beyond movement and activity to committing to regular exercise multiples time a week, every week. Whether that means exercising in your home, joining a gym to get out of your house and get serious about exercise, or getting outdoors for recreation and adventures, your body needs lots of daily movement, activity, and genuine exercise. You might find some inspiration or helpful information in my book, “Maybe I Need to Get Fit …” (you can find the book here).
      • Commit to a diet of healthy nutrition and healthy eating habits. As we give way to increasingly laziness in the pandemic, we cook fewer healthier meals and opt for fast food or junk food delivered to our door steps. What you eat, and how you eat, directly impacts your physical fitness and health, as well as your mental health. Practice enough self-discipline to take responsibility for fueling your body (and your mind) with the type of fuel (food) it needs, and with the eating habits that are good for it.
      • Getting adequate quantity and quality sleep does impact your health, your energy for living, and your mental health as well. So instead of trying to “sleep away” the pandemic, or staying up all night streaming movies, commit to developing and fostering a healthy sleep pattern. For more information about that, check out my blog post titled, “Can’t sleep? Try taking these steps” which you can find here.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY
A feeling of not being able to control racing thoughts, and increased moodiness can be part of the mental fatigue that comes with trying to navigate life in a pandemic. But you can (and need to) get ahold of your thoughts and better regulate your emotions to care for your mental and emotional health. Here are some steps you can take:

    • Examine your emotions. Just trying to “stuff” your emotions only creates anxiety and doesn’t resolve anything. It’s helpful that you examine your emotions, and a key part of doing that is getting specific by identifying (naming) the exact emotions you’re actually experiencing. Journaling can be an effective way of helping you be specific in identifying, understanding, and working out your emotions.
    • Reframe your thinking. If you’re experiencing pandemic fatigue, it’s likely you have developed a pattern or patterns of irrational thinking. If so, you’ll need to learn how to identify the irrational thought patterns you have, and then reframe your thinking patterns to more rational thoughts. You might want to check out my book, “Insights for your Mental and Behavioral Health,” or my workbook, “The Temperament and Cognitive-Behavioral Workbook: Revised and Expanded Edition,” for tips on how to reframe your thinking (you can find both here).
    • Reduce and manage your stress.
    • Reduce your intake of news.
    • Stay connected with others. Having to maintain some physical distance with others doesn’t mean you have to disconnect from them! You can still safely visit, as well as call, “face time,” connect online via video, text, and use social media platforms as many options to interact and stay connected with people. Don’t withdraw!
    • Add daily doses of beauty and laughter to your life. Learn more about these benefits from my blog posts, “Something we all need to endure living in a sin-marred world …” (which is about our need for beauty, found here), and “How to sleep (and live) better …” (which is about the benefits of laughter, found here).
    • Never hesitate to contact a mental health professional if you think you need to. A competent, skilled clinical therapist can help you work through any mental and emotional issues you may be struggling with.

GET A START ON CRAFTING YOUR “NEW NORMAL”
Okay, so anything from a little to a lot of your life is no longer what “normal life” used to be. It’s time to accept the fact that it’s not likely your life will fully return to the old “normal” once we’re on the other side of this pandemic, and just sitting around waiting for the pandemic to end will only increase your anxiety, could lead to depression, is both a waste of your time and not a good way to care for yourself. So, consider these things:

    • Be creative about recreation. Some people have an all-or-none mentality — either they can do everything they used to do, how they did it, when they want to, or they won’t do anything. You still might not be able to do the things you used to do, or the way you used to enjoy them; instead of sulking about that, get creative about how you CAN add in recreation and even do new or different things that still bring you enjoyment.
    • Have some productivity. Some people have over-emphasized being productive during the pandemic, but it’s also easy to overlook the value of having a daily lifestyle that does have adequate measures of productivity in it. The more we lay around and accomplish nothing of value with our lives, the more unfilled we feel. So do something! There many many things for your self, your family, your church, your community, and the world at large you can do that are positive contributions, beneficial, and rewarding. Go do them!
    • Examine your routines. Months ago you should have learned some of your routines have been interrupted, so examine what routines don’t work right anymore and developed new ones that are efficient, effective, and beneficial. But have some routines so that you’re not just idling away in your home.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Yes, things are different in some ways, but not in every way. You’ll struggle less with life in a pandemic by letting go of past things that aren’t coming back, and proactively making changes that make for a contented life regardless of the circumstances.

Life has not be canceled. Go live it!

Scotty