Therapy Bits

The global shutdown that accompanied COVID-19 did not fall evenly on every heart. For many living with mental illness, the world’s sudden stillness became an echo chamber—every worry amplified, every fear stretched thin across days that looked the same. The routines that once held us together dissolved almost overnight, leaving long hours for the mind to wander into darker corners.

Loneliness during this period felt different from the ordinary kind. It wasn’t just being alone; it was the sense of being sealed away from the warmth of others, separated by walls, distance, and danger. Even when we reached out through screens, something essential was missing—the casual comfort of shared space, the reassurance of presence. Isolation often grew heavy enough to feel physical.

For some, the silence of lockdown brought old wounds to the surface. Symptoms that were once manageable swelled under the pressure of uncertainty, and many found themselves fighting battles they thought they had already won. The days blurred, and with them, the line between coping and merely surviving.

Yet, in recognizing that hardship, there is also a kind of truth: people everywhere were trying, in their own fragile ways, to stay connected, to remain hopeful. The pandemic revealed how deeply we need one another, how connection is not a luxury but a lifeline.

Reflecting now, it becomes clear that those years reshaped us. They taught us to acknowledge the invisible struggles carried behind closed doors and reminded us that compassion—toward others and ourselves—is essential, especially when the world grows quiet. The loneliness was real, the isolation profound, but so too was the resilience we slowly, quietly cultivated just to make it through.

RDP Friday! Global!