Rob: This is mental health week, and I think now more than ever this week is so critically important to check in with others and check in with ourselves to make sure that we’re doing okay. This is a time that’s really testing all of our mental resolves.

Tanya:  A lot of people who may have been dealing with things before are finding those things amplified under the stress and the change of our daily lives. This idea that there’s this microscopic, invisible germ out there that could kill you and the people you love. You don’t have to live in fear, you get a choice about how you deal with these things.

There are a lot of mental health supports out there, and people may not either realize that they’re there and available to them and free here in the Bow Valley, or they may notrealize  they need them and that even a simple phone call to talk to someone when you’re experiencing a really high levels of anxiety or stress can be extremely helpful.

Rob:  I have to admit, I’ve been struggling a little bit with my mental health here this week. I’m watching the collapse of my wedding DJ business over the summer, and it’s not just about the business itself, it’s a lot to do with the fact that doing weddings kind of fills my bucket. I just love being part of a special day like that. And the fact that I won’t get to do that all summer, I’m having a hard time with that.  Some things that have really helped rejuvenate me this week – last night’s weekly Zoom improv meetup that we did. And my chiropractor opened this week, and just having a real conversation with somebody outside my household. I didn’t realize how much I was missing conversing with random people. People need to find creative ways to stay engaged with other people because the way we’re living right now, it’s not normal. And we need to accept that.

Tanya: And just because we are being to ask to socially distance ourself doesn’t mean we have to, disconnect from people.  I can totally relate to how you feel, because I’ve spent the last year and a half building something at the Outlook and having to go through layoffs even though they’re temporary and see the decline of our business community and our page counts and just the struggle that people are going through, it’s incredibly intense and overwhelming. So I have specific sets of coping mechanisms like yoga regularly, meditation, journaling, regular exercise, healthy diet, trying to really have a good sleep routine. My sleep has been off this entire week. I’m exhausted.

Rob: Me too. The Rocky Mountain Outlook has a list of phone numbers you can call for some provincial support, some local supports. And sometimes it’s even just about reaching out and having a phone call or maybe a FaceTime with a friend you haven’t talked to in a little while, and maintaining those social connections that I think a lot of us are craving right now.

Filed under: covid-19, Mountain Insider