Brain not working quite right?

I have heard it called Pandemic Fatigue, Covid Fog, Covid Brain... but it matters not what we call it.

What I know and experience myself is that my brain is not performing as well as it did way back when.

When what? I hear you cry.

When the world, our world ended.

And I find I am not entirely sure when that was. Do you have that problem too? Not remembering when things happened before. You know, before the Great Shutdown.

My friends and clients can be equally vague. We don't remember when our last holiday was, when the last time we saw our family was, when we last went to the cinema.

And if we are "allowed" to undertake those activities, the complications are overwhelming.

I went to the theatre on Friday night. The show was on at 8 and we were told to arrive an hour early. And it did take that long to get into the venue.

Covid Vaccination Certificate - check, ID - Check, tickets - check, mask - check, hand sanitiser - check.

My partner had forgotten her mobile so no Covid Cert.

Panic.

Some other woman in the queue presented a code that was invalid. The stress levels were so high!

I remember what it was like to simply decide to go the theatre, jump in the car, roll up and buy a ticket. Do you?

So yes, your brain is not coping well. Everything has become even more complicated than ever before.

And then, there is the fear. Did you know that our brains were never meant to be frightened like that for months on end? Our brains evolved to deal with sudden stress and cope with it. The old Flight or Fight reflex.

We have now been in the old Flight or Fight reflex for nearly two years. Admittedly it comes and goes somewhat as the disease dances its merry dance. 

The human brain has not been designed to cope with that level of stress for that amount of time.

So it is currently busy trying to find ways of dealing with the situation by creating new neuropathways, new coping mechanisms and that takes time and brain power.

Which is why you are constantly tired.

So how do you deal with all this? 

Stop beating yourself up about it. 

Don't expect your brain to be as agile as it used to be. Imagine that your brain is a laptop and downloading a new upgrade.

Give it time to upgrade before you demand more work from it.

It will all be fine really.

Humanity has coped with stuff that is much worse than what is happening right now. We have coped with near extinction during the Black Death. More recently the two world wars stretched all of our capacities.

We survived. We do that. In order to survive though, you have to slow down and allow the update to finish and then...

Don't forget to reboot.

All the love,
Baya