Who else needs a mental health reset right now? Trust me you aren’t alone, it’s okay to not feel your best; w’re still in the dark about the future. So it’s natural that the control we once had is now alluding us on a global/societal scale. Even if restrictions are slowly easing.
If my phone didn’t tell me the day underneath the time on the lock screen, I honestly wouldn’t know the difference between Tuesday and Sunday. I mean, even after I read the day of the week, I often still forget what day it is, anyone else experiencing this?!
Some of us have been devoid of the commonplace structure for two months – when routine is so deeply wired into our psyche, it’s pretty hard to live without.
Whenever I think about COVID-19 and its effects on the world as we know it, I still feel stressed and anxious.
You want to know why?
50 people in NSW pubs asking for trouble. Intoxication = no social distancing. Someone told me SA pubs not serving any alcohol. Anyone else heard that?
— Pat ? (@spuddy108) May 25, 2020
We are only around two to three months into the restrictions, and they are already being eased. Not to mention that while the harshest of Australia’s restrictions were in place, they couldn’t even hold a candle to the restrictions set by other governments around the world.
In my opinion, we’re essentially welcoming the second wave of COVID-19 with open arms. I wish ScoMo would stop running his mouth about being ‘Australian’ and going back to ‘normal’. You can’t define ‘normal’. I think he is being ‘Un-Australian’ trying to rush everything.
I understand our economy is under major fire, but, being ‘Australian’ is about giving everyone a fair go – right? I don’t think people are being given a “fair go” when they are being thrusted right into the epicentre of the virus by returning to work.
The recent outbreak in South Korea after nightclubs opened, is a prime example of rushing back too fast. Especially when we’re dealing with a disease that lacks symptoms early on.
I repeat this is ‘Un-Australian’.
From last weekend, cafes and restaurants/pubs were afforded the capacity to seat ten people. And from the beginning of June, pubs and restaurants who can hold 50 people without breaking the social distancing rule will be allowed to.
This seems all well and good if social distancing measures can still be put in place, but when I went to the local café in Balmain (inner west Sydney) to grab a takeaway cold brew, the line out the door was at least 25 people long.
Not sure about you, but people have resorted back to their old ways, forgoing social distancing at shopping centres, now that everything is supposedly ok.
All I think is people have learnt nothing and are sheeple who only do as they’re told in Australia.
Pathetic. https://t.co/vlsxtjJGEG
— Keve van Ass (@Keve_van_Ass) May 26, 2020
NSW commuters will be monitored by CCTV to check that social distancing is being maintained on the state’s trains.
A new team of 80 will monitor the footage, collected by 11,000 cameras across the network.
?
— Mark Pesce #StopAndTest (@mpesce) May 26, 2020
Surely this is not safe. If the government had the hindsight to understand people were still flooding to Bondi beach during the initial restriction phase, they would have expected this to happen and wouldn’t have opened the flood gates.
If the politicians in power can’t use retrospection to influence their decision making, they don’t deserve to be in that position, period.
The unwillingness to learn from prior mistakes or failure to understand how people will react to the easing of restrictions is to everyones detriment. I have no problem pinning that on our government. It’s time for them to wake up.
Not to mention the negative mental health impact resuming ‘normal’ life could have. In saying that, I understand it’s a unique situation.
University students, for example, should not be completing degrees over the internet. Learning styles are so vast, an umbrella solution is not one size fits all. And being stuck in the house, especially if you live at home, is the breeding ground for anxiety, depression and further mental illness. However, the idea of going back to campus is also potentially anxiety-inducing.
So I get that it goes both ways.
However, given the delicate nature of COVID-19, shouldn’t that mean we are EXTRA careful?
I could continue this article for pages, but hopefully you get where I’m coming from. I’m hoping the government shows some further restraint when it comes to easing restrictions, because I know that I am not too keen to return to work full time, or study, until further protection is available.
If you are struggling don’t forget that are support networks available. Contact Headspace, Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636), Lifeline – 13 11 14.
