Coping Mechanisms For Life In 2020

The fact that I haven’t posted on here this whole entire year kind of sums up 2020 for me in general. I kept going through phases of trying to think of exactly what I could write about but I kept drawing a blank. It also felt weird publishing anything on here (even though it’s mostly just for myself) and I’ve spent much more time writing in my journal and much less time wanting to talk about those feelings on here.

Also, if this year has done anything, at least to me, it has made small things (like cooking, shopping, reading books about nothing, etc) feel insignificant, which has made writing about any of the above feel pointless. Plus, in the midst of a global pandemic/a social revolution/the West Coast burning/spending the last 6+ months in quarantine, I’ve had a lot of time to think, and stress, and worry, and also overthink. So since I’ve spent a lot of time doing the latter, I’ve also spent a lot of time figuring out what coping mechanisms work best for me and that felt like the perfect thing to write about, for not only the random person who stumbles across this post but also for myself to look back on when the world hopefully goes back to “normal”.

1. Reading: It took me a few months to get into reading again after the pandemic first hit but now I’ve been trying to read almost a book a week. I don’t hold myself to it per se (I don’t want to make myself feel bad for not finishing a book in 7 days) but I’ve been able to focus a bit more now than I was able to back in March so I’ve been zipping through books.

The latest book that I read insanely quickly was What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons. I don’t often read books in less than 24 hours but this one was an exception. It’s a book that deals with loss, specifically the death of the main character’s mother, and even though the loss of an immediate family member is something that I’m not able to relate to, I still found this book so relatable and oddly comforting.

2. Netflix: Re-watching shows and movies that I enjoyed as a teen has been something I’ve found myself doing a lot more often in the last few weeks. I remember reading an article a long time ago that said if you’re feeling sad, you should listen to a song you used to love as a child or teenager, so this feels like a similar approach. I think I find it somewhat comforting to know what’s going to happen next in what I’m watching? I’m not totally sure, but I do know I’d recommend re-watching Gilmore Girls even if you’ve seen it 8 times through already and some scenes are cringy and very outdated. Would still highly recommend it. Also, Sabrina The Teenage Witch is another one I’d recommend. The old one though, of course.

3. Cooking: At the beginning of quarantine I would cook SO much. And bake! All the time. But during the warmer months that came to an end and I also felt…extremely unmotivated to do basically anything? Alas, now that it’s getting cold again I’m feeling the urge to cook more. Thank god because ordering take-out more than three times a month is very off-brand for me. However, even though I’m cooking more, I’m not making anything that requires too many dishes or time so I’m sticking with things like this old recipe for pasta stuffed bell peppers, but I skip the step of baking again at the end, and I’ve also been making a lot of kale salad. But please, if you’re going to make kale salad, MASSAGE YOUR KALE PEOPLE. Basically, I’ve just been trying to eat as healthy as I can during these times, I’m sure you can imagine why.

4. The Artists Way: I first saw this book on Instagram and for whatever reason, I was instantly drawn to it and ordered it that day—which I don’t do very often; however, I’m very glad that I did. One of the major takeaways I’ve had from this book so far is the daily morning pages where you write out three pages in the morning of just whatever is on your mind, total stream of consciousness. The first few days are very hard and yes, my hand was very sore, but after the first week it got much easier and I now do the pages every morning and they have helped me SO MUCH.

Other things that help:

CBD Oil

Candles

Wine

Meditation

Jazz music

Fleetwood Mac

Popcorn