It’s ok to not be ok.

For the last 7+ months, we have been living in a time like no other. Schools and businesses closed, friends and family separated, isolation and loneliness, fear of becoming sick, not knowing what to do or who to contact. The global pandemic known as COVID-19 (the Coronavirus) has shaken us all to the core.

Going from “normal” to being alone in a matter of hours led to feelings I had never felt before. In the first few weeks of quarantine, I began to get a better understanding of what so many of my clients had been facing prior to the pandemic. I began living by the mantra of “it’s ok to not be ok”. What I knew to be normal, was no longer relevant and accepting change was not easy. Learning to live by a new normal was going to be everything but typical and that it is ok to find it challenging.

I’ve always felt that everyone is allowed to express their emotions and feel a certain way about a situation. Learning how to cope with the unknown, deal with the “what if” questions that arose, and accept my lack of control over the state of the world was no easy feat. Settling into my emotions and feelings brought me back to my roots as a professional counselor and I’m still learning to practice what I preach.