Been hard to put my finger on the current feeling, but yeah… this sounds about right, from ‘That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief.’
To calm yourself, you want to come into the present. This will be familiar advice to anyone who has meditated or practiced mindfulness but people are always surprised at how prosaic this can be. You can name five things in the room. There’s a computer, a chair, a picture of the dog, an old rug, and a coffee mug. It’s that simple. Breathe. Realize that in the present moment, nothing you’ve anticipated has happened. In this moment, you’re okay. You have food. You are not sick. Use your senses and think about what they feel. The desk is hard. The blanket is soft. I can feel the breath coming into my nose. This really will work to dampen some of that pain.
I know that trying to go toe to toe with the stress expends a lot of energy. Lately, I open the Headspace app and start a 10 minute meditation. Feeling where my feet are, the sounds, focusing on my breath.
We have lost a lot right now, some more than others. We’re grieving the loss of what our normal lives used to be.