In our second blog focusing on mental health, guest blogger Teddy Monzo, who studied at City University in Fall 2019, shares her experiences during the pandemic and mental health survival tips.
I’ll just say it: Quarantine really kicked my mental health’s butt. Going from social connection and fulfilment in a big city to being confined to my house in a small town was honestly devastating. This was supposed to be THE year, my senior year of college. Like all of you, 2020 has clearly not gone according to plan. All summer I felt gloomy, isolated, disconnected and unmotivated. My depression became more present and I found myself in bed for hours at a time, sometimes the whole day. As the depression deepened, my eating disorder consequentially worsened. Ultimately, my therapist and I decided for me to enter a virtual treatment program to seek better support.
I spent 3 whole months in that program recovering from the negative impact the pandemic had on my mental and emotional health. It was essentially a virtual support group led by younger mental healthcare workers that could really relate and empathize with everything going on. Me (and nearly a dozen other young adults) were able to navigate our current mental health and figure out effective coping skills, gaining valuable tools for staying strong during quarantine (and life in general!).
From my own journal to your screen, here are my top tools for kicking quarantine’s butt:
I can gladly say the last month has been astronomically better than the others in quarantine thanks to these tools. I’ve started my fall (and final) semester virtually feeling hopeful, connected, and in-touch with my healthy inner voice—the voice that validates my feelings and reminds me of the tools I (and now you!) have to support mental health.