Post-pandemic my relationship with health has changed drastically.
I did not respect my well-being as much as I should have during those two and a half years in the pandemic. Yes, I quarantined, got vaccinated and wore masks out in public. But when it came to how I treated myself, I was far from attentive.
My main priority was simply trying to get through each day, terrified of the next. Spending my last few years as a teenager in quarantine, while watching the daily news with the Covid-19 death toll rise, I feared that this is what adulthood had to offer.
Now that we have exited the pandemic, I now value my health because at one point it felt like that is all any of us had. I no longer see self-care as self-loathing.
The pandemic taught me how taking care of your own health can help the masses in the long run too. When we leave the house to run an errand, go to school or even walk our dogs, we are able to spread anything we are carrying.
I have grown appreciation for the things that felt so insignificant before. It is now a priority for me to go outside as much as possible. Even if it is just to take in the day.
I now make the active choice to do things in my daily life that I know will help with my mental and physical health. From what I eat and exercise, to journaling about what is going on in my mind.
I feel like I have left the pandemic with a sense of appreciation for my health as well as my life. I have learned we are only given one mind and one body. That feels like reason enough to find steps that work for you in taking care of yourself.
