LIFE

Dear Carol

"Dear Carol, I'm tired of COVID and can't snap out of my funk!"

Dear Carol,

I feel so bad for what I am going to say because I know how serious the pandemic is, and my family is really lucky because everyone is healthy and no one has lost their job, but I am really sick of how everything is and I just want things to go back to normal. Sometimes I’ll get mad and frustrated about COVID but then feel guilty that I am not more grateful. I heard on the news that the virus isn’t going away anytime soon, so can you tell me how to be better at this?

-Tired of COVID

Dear Tired of COVID,

A tall order, but I’ll try. The death toll really is staggering. The virus has killed more than four times as many Americans as died in the Vietnam War. And many of these people died alone. Yet it’s true too that even if a family did not lose a loved one or their livelihood, the emotional toll of this pandemic is huge. Month after month, celebrations got canceled. Now it’s holiday time, and we want to go to parties and hug, yet we still have to be careful. If you have younger siblings, they may even be worried that a masked Santa shouldn’t be bopping from one home to the next. The problem is that while we may be sick and tired of this virus, the coronavirus is not tired of making us sick. That said, don’t feel guilty about being a human being who has had enough of staying on high alert. We all have. But we have to keep doing what it takes to get through this tunnel together. Can you mask up and host an outdoor get-together with hot chocolate and a few close friends? It’s OK to vent to others who may feel lucky yet frustrated. One more thing: Reach out by phone or text to your older relatives, because they need cheering up, too, and hearing from you might do the trick. Or bake snowballs and write a sweet holiday card and put them in the mail.

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