Millions of people around the world were forced to stay inside the house due to COVID. The coronavirus was highly infectious and more fatal than just the common flu. At the time of the writing of this article, there are around half a million deaths in the United States alone. There are 29 million cases of Coronavirus now — making it 1 death for every 50 people.
Some alarmists are sounding the plague’s bell while a sizeable amount of the population is dismissing the whole idea as a sham. Nevertheless, those prudent and careful enough are not going anywhere outside their homes. Except for going out for essentials, most of the American faithful have been stuck at home for almost a year now.
To stay away from other infected people, a string of lockdowns was put in place by diligent and responsible statesmen. Local authorities are strictly enforcing the mask mandate to cut down the number of victims of coronavirus. The virus affects everyone differently. Even the healthy ones get severe cases every once in a while.
Coping over the virus has been difficult for those who live alone. An estimated 40 million people are living alone in the United States. Almost all of them are middle-income households. The culture is almost the same in the United States in contrast to other first-world countries. Most families give importance to independence and self-support by the time they turn 18 or finish studying college. The ability to support one’s self is a point of pride for most people. It becomes more shameful to live with your parents the longer you stay with them post your tertiary studies. On a sad note, millennials swallow this difficult pill and try to move back home due to the economic situation amidst the pandemic.
There has been a slew and waves of depression and anxiety rising amongst those who live alone. The pandemic has caused the tide of unemployment for millions. The pandemic has changed the way people lived their lives. Everything became uncertain. While most of the companies have moved to a work-from-home setup, lingering doubts about the sustainability of such a setup still haunts the minds of those who have no other support system other than themselves. Healthcare and other daily expenses are extremely high in the United States. Most cannot afford to slip else they will fall into homelessness.
Loving yourself is the most important thing you must do if you live alone during a pandemic. It will almost always feel like you are in a prison amidst all the lockdowns and restrictions placed in your locality. You cannot even meet with your family and friends personally due to the risks involved. If you cannot rely on anyone else to do the loving and caring for you, the least you can do is to try to love yourself.
Loving yourself is easy to say but hard to do. To love yourself, you must focus on your own needs and wants. Try to remember to not be too hard on yourself. Practicing meditation is a healthy way to get yourself out of the rut. Meditation has been tried and tested for centuries to reduce the risk of falling into depression and other kinds of mental illnesses. Lack of social interaction can put one at a high risk of mental illness. Meditation can leave you in self-awareness to ultimately care for yourself.
There is absolutely no gatekeeper to stop you from interacting with others in a pandemic. You just have to be disciplined enough to stay safe. Engage in video calls with your loved ones to keep your sanity in check. You are definitely not alone in what you are enduring right now. Literally billions of people are suffering from the same fate. Thanks to modern technology, communicating has been easier. You can catch a friend, live, and converse with them from hours on end. Dating online through matchmaking apps can also be an option if you are feeling a little frisky. It is definitely not forbidden — just be safe always.
As the world tries to move on from the pandemic, there is no denying that it has changed everyone’s lives. To move on, we have to also adapt to the changing times. It is not always that we are blessed to move on from one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. If there is one takeaway we can learn from the pandemic, it is that we must always learn to love ourselves. You can’t just rely on others to get the self-love that you need. Loneliness is a battle you can singlehandedly win.
