If you are like me (stuck inside….studying for most of the day…wondering when this is all going to come to an end), you more than likely find yourself tuning into the news more than you usually do. Pre-COVID19, The Skimm was enough for me in the morning or maybe a quick recap from the New York Times.
Pre-COVID19, I would watch a snippet of MSNBC and CNN to get my dose of my cousin Chris Cuomo, my other cousin Anderson Cooper, my auntie Joy Reid, and my favorite physician-reporter (and long time homie in my head…), Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
But, to be honest, I never stayed on the broadcast news for too long.
But, then COVID-19 hit and suddenly, I found myself glued to the news morning, noon, and night. If I was studying, it was on in the background on mute…just in case. I was clicking on Youtube links to hear Governor Cuomo’s daily briefing…every day.
Suddenly, I was analyzing the status of the COVID-19 crisis by Governor Cuomo’s attire. If that white collared t-shirt was on and that Dunkin’ Donuts coffee was next to him, I knew the homie was tired with a capital T.
I knew the Governor’s mother’s name was Matilda and she lived with Chris Cuomo. I learned that New York State’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker is actually a boy genius (…he graduated from medical school at 22! Is that even legal? And he’s also a lawyer? And he has designed experiments for the International Space Station? Make it make sense!).
I became borderline obsessed with the COVID-19 crisis. It was like a bad car accident that you couldn’t look away from. But, then I started to realize that my moods would swing.
I would be happy one minute, then anxious, then fearful, then apathetic, and then angry. I’m a pretty chill girl so that’s when I knew that it was time to take a break. Here are a few more signs that I noticed and if they resonate with you….it may be time to shut off the television for a little while.
You start to feel numb to what is going on
So, here we are, in the middle of a crisis and suddenly the upward tick, tick, tick of the number of deaths doesn’t seem to phase you. Death and illness seem to be the new normal. You don’t feel that same hit of emotion you used to feel at the beginning of the crisis. This is a symptom I started to feel as well. That’s when I knew it was time for me to take a break and restore my sense of self. I needed to remind myself who I was before this crisis. Normally, I am a very compassionate and empathetic person. Once I felt those feelings starting to fade, I knew it was time for me to re-think my daily news briefings.
The news briefing doesn’t change your situation exponentially
I found that no matter how long I stared at the TV….my situation and my community’s situation was the same. COVID-19 was still claiming lives and there wasn’t much I could do about it (…morbid, I know). If you find that the news isn’t bringing you any comfort or any current information, it may be time to take a break.
You aren’t completing your work, crushing assignments, texting friends, calling family, meditating…
The list goes on and on. If there was something you used to do that brought you joy and kept you centered, you want to keep doing that thing (especially during a crisis!). But, if you find that you are skipping that workout to watch the news broadcast on the couch. Or, maybe you keep putting off that assignment because you simply cannot bare missing a briefing.
Does this sound like you? It might be time to turn off the TV, homie.
These are certainly not normal times and what I am suggesting you do is going to be hard.
But, as it has been reported, COVID-19 is hitting our communities the hardest.
Let us do the little that we can to protect our bodies, minds, and spirits until we can get out of this eerie sunken place.
Want to learn more about how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting our community?
I wrote about that here.
How are you protecting your peace during this time?
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