Hi everyone, it’s been a while.
Since I wrote my last update, things have been kind of crazy. I live in the United States, and my world turned upside down during the Spring semester. During the first part of the semester, I lived in an on-campus apartment, and I was involved with a school club.
That all changed in mid-March. I said goodbye to my friends before Spring Break, and I fully expected to return to in-person classes the following week. My school ended up extending Spring Break by an extra week, and during the second week, the school said that all classes would move online for the rest of the semester.
With that news, I ended up moving home in mid-March, two months before I expected to do so. Before Spring Break, I said goodbye to my friends, fully expecting to see them the following week. As of this writing, though, I haven’t seen any of my loved ones in-person, aside from my immediate family (who I live with).
After that, much of the semester was a blur. My county issued a stay-at-home order that lasted about a month. During that time, I was able to continue my therapy sessions online. Despite the fact that I still met with my therapist, my anxiety was much harder to control. I feared that I wouldn’t pass my classes, and I strongly feared that my family and I would get sick and die from COVID-19, even though none of us are over 60 or have any preexisting health conditions.
By the grace of God, I finished the semester on May 2nd, and I had a virtual graduation ceremony with my school’s English department on May 16th. At first, my school said that we couldn’t have a graduation ceremony in May, but graduates would either get an in-person graduation ceremony in August, or they could participate in the December ceremony. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the pandemic were such that my school decided against having an in-person graduation ceremony for the May graduates. Although I understood the school’s reasoning, I was still disappointed, especially since I had worked so hard to finish my degree.
Since the end of the semester, I’ve been working to rebuild my mental health. It’s taken a while to get my anxiety back under control, but I’m doing much better now. I still have more bad days than I did, but I’m working towards recovery.
I know that there’s a lot of unrest. In the first six months of 2020, the United States has dealt with the president’s impeachment, the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic recession, and intense social unrest. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Needless to say, there are a lot of reasons to worry right now. Because of this, I’m going to resume blogging at Anxiety Free World. My aim is to give people tips on how to cope with their anxiety, as well as give them hope that things will get better.
No matter how bad things are, life will always get better. The pandemic will go away eventually, and the economy will recover. As long as we stick together and support each other, we’ll be okay.
Now that I’ve resumed blogging, what topics do you want me to cover? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!
Anxiety Free World 