Iāve been seeing a psychologist since a DKA nearly killed me just over a decade ago, and I was speaking to her this week via a telehealth appointment. I was telling her that my anxiety has been very elevated lately, but that I have really not got a lot to be strssed or anxious about currently. Australia is in an Omicron wave currently, but I have a roof over my head, enough food, easy access to medicines, so I couldnāt figure out why my anxiety was bugging me.
She agreed with me that nothing in my direct life should be causing me any anxiety, but that external pressures may be a contributing factor. Iām not a doom scroller, in fact I limit my time on social media each day, and only allow myself to read news (from reputable sources) for no more than an hour each morning.
She suggested that, even though I donāt mind being in a self induced lockdown, I still need to do activities like I wasnāt. So, for example, just having a several hours long conversation with a friend on the phone, isnāt social enough, I should have a video call with them , so that I can see their facial expressions and they can see mine.
Also, that sticking to your routines is good. She told me that even though she isnāt seeing patients in person (or video calls), she still does her routine of putting on her ālippyā before she starts calling people, as that is part of her routine. I told her that Iād give the video calls a go and when I suggested it to my friend, he was very cool with that fact.
Weāve been so fortunate here in Australia until recently. I am triple vaccinated, but I suppose that knowing I am considered as being in a high risk group, and having spent many times in ICU in DKA, I do not want to be going back there.
Stay safe everyone and look after your mental health as well as the physical!
Thank you for sharing your experience so frankly. 
@SBee, thanks for sharing your experiences! Those are really helpful!
Having minor children in my home has really opened my eyes to what humans needā¦but as adults, we think we can go without and not realize how itās impacting us.
My kidsā mental health shows me when weāre too ālocked downā for too long. My boys are 8 and 11. They started to show sleep issues when we had cut off playing with the neighbor kids for two months due to āfoamiteā concerns early in the pandemic. Even though I thought we were doing enough to keep them mentally healthy and stimulated (hikes at our hunting property, walks around our local lake, hanging out the four of us, crafts, cooking, new sports, video calls with family)ā¦it wasnāt enough for them. Contact with their friends and peers reallllllyyyy mattered. My youngest in particular could not fall asleepā¦and then when he didā¦he could not stay asleep. Our pediatrician said that was a sign that his mental health was struggling. As soon as the foamite concern went away and we reopened our playset to all of the other neighbor kids, instantly his sleep issues went away. Overnight. It was the craziest thing to see. A switch just flipped.
I work for a cargo airline and cargo pilots fly crazy overnight schedules. Boxes donāt care what time a flight leavesā¦whereas paying passengers doā¦and there is less air traffic congestion overnight. Cargo pilots have to assess their own fatigue levels before each legā¦and guess what happens to someoneās ability to determine how fatigued they are when they are fatigued? It goes to pot. Fatigued people never know how fatigued they really are. They think they are in way better shape than they actually are.
So I think itās awesome that youāre sharing this and keeping tabs on it yourself proactively. Bc if I didnāt have minor children whose mental health was showing me that I might not be as okay with isolation as I thought I wasā¦I would probably be like, āThis is fine. I can do this. Whatās the big deal?ā while totally feeling the underlying pressure of how not-fine it all is.
This human experience is evidently more complex than I realized.