If You’re Not Yourself and You Don’t Know Why—It’s a “COVID Day”

COVID Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down (Sorry, Burt!)

Ever since I left my job working for the big corporate machine, Mondays haven’t been all that bad. That is, until “COVID Days” entered the scene.

And this past Monday, I got a double-dose—A COVID Day and a Monday combined. Yikes! Like I said, Mondays usually aren’t a bad thing for me. But I just wasn’t having it this time.

My Motivation Meter was Stuck on Zero.

I should ask even though I don’t feel like I need to… have you had at least one COVID Day? Most of us would say they’ve had around fifty to sixty so far.

You do know what one is, right? It’s okay not to know, UrbanDictionary.com is even giving me the… \_(ツ)_/

But the thing is… you’ve already had lots of them.

We talked about them in my networking group’s Zoom meeting on Tuesday morning. We always start with fifteen minutes or so of hi, hello, and whatnot.

I mentioned my impotent Monday and how I was grateful for a new day. One woman responded saying, “Oh, you just had a COVID Day… I have them all the time.”

Then everyone piled on and shared COVID Day experiences.

“Yeah, you just don’t feel right… Kind of crappy and out-of-sorts… there’s no motivation for anything… And you just start eating… Oh, naps and Netflix don’t help… Oh man—it’s when I’ve had enough of everything…”

So yes, that’s exactly what it was, a COVID Day. That was the official diagnosis by this p-r-e-t-t-y savvy networking group. Now you know what a COVID Day is! (Aren’t you glad you’re reading such an educational blog?)

What should I do? Is there anything I can do?

To give this discussion a little seriousness, because the topic does deserve some, let’s dig into that…

What do we still need to keep in mind as we navigate our way through these uncharted waters?

First, remember just that… these waters are uncharted. There is so much we just don’t know yet and can’t know, even now. Do your best to get comfortable with that idea and adopt a strategy of ‘adjust and adapt.’

Here are 5 effective treatments for COVID Days…

• Recognize the reason we feel so exhausted is because we are. So much of life has been disrupted all the way down to the simple routines we haven’t had to think about in forever. All this burns tremendous mental energy. We’re emotionally exhausted so we’re also physically exhausted.
• Take care of what’s going on inside of your head. And be compassionate with others. Everyone is suffering in some way and their way is different from your way. No one is 100% okay right now.
• One-to-one connection is essential even though it may not be live-and-in-person in most situations. Have those more sensitive conversations one-to-one. That way we avoid our natural tendency to ‘gang up’ on someone.
• Limit your consumption of news and sensationalism. And walk away from nonsense regardless of the source.  Especially be wary of social media. ‘I heard that ____’ is a reliable warning of an untruth. ‘Someone said ____’ is completely unreliable.
• Try to listen, try to understand. Listen-evaluate-learn.  If we’re willing, we’re listening, and if we’re listening, we’re learning.

I’ve always been a human behavior geek. I love studying about why we do the things we do as humans and I’ve been learning a lot lately. Let me just say, this is one bizarre petri dish we’re living in at the moment. So hang in there.

Two final thoughts…

• When you’re having a COVID Day keep in mind you’re not at your best, so try not to take it out on your cabinmates. And,
• When you see someone going through a COVID Day, give them a break, show them some compassion, give them some extra slack, (maybe keep a safe distance too). You know them better than I do.

These are things we probably should be doing anyway, but they are especially important now.

Be safe, be well… Be untucked.

P.S. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on social media. Thanks… I owe you one!

Copyright © 2020 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved