I was working remotely before Covid hit, so little has changed with my work--the biggest change is that I have more work. Some of my friends have lost family members to Covid, but no one in my family or friends has died yet.

I've had to make some big adjustments to my life plan due to Covid, though. In February I was planning to move into a van, because I wanted to own my own living space, but didn't want to commit to any of the locations I found where I could afford to buy property. Part of this plan was to shower in rock climbing gyms, but all these closed down, and even though some in the South are reopening now, I don't think the pandemic risks are worth it. In late May I finally bought the van and I'm showering at a friend's place until I can build a shower in the van. Frankly, I'm terrified of this whole process--it's hard to sleep at night sometimes because I tend to ruminate on all the ways things could go wrong. But I'm doing it, and so far I've made it through all the challenges.

Three years and nine months ago, I stopped drinking and started consciously trying to build real coping mechanisms, and today I'm seeing my efforts from those years pay off a lot. Here are some things that have been helping me:

1. Exercise: I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where I can rock climb, which I love. But almost anyone can run, and cardio arguably works better than anything for improving ones health and mood. Years ago I used a plan similar to this one[1] to run a marathon, and it was not as hard as I thought it would be. I would encourage anyone who is having trouble staying fit right now to pick up this plan and start. You don't need an official marathon event to run a marathon--there are plenty of 26.2-mile loops in the world. Do it for yourself not for the medal.

2. Gratitude: one thing I've been trying to do is spend some time each day thinking of what I'm grateful for. This has helped immensely: as a problem-solver my tendency is to focus on problems in my life because things that are going well don't require any action, but the end result of that is that I only ever see the problems in life. If nothing else, I can hear, I can see, I can walk--these are all incredible things and they are not guaranteed--many people can't do these things. And indeed I'm much more fortunate than just these basics.

3. Let love guide my actions, not fear. It's easy to let fear run away with my thoughts, but when I'm doing well, I can act out of love. Earlier in my life I thought I needed fear to keep me safe, but I've learned in the past few years that all the things I did out of fear to keep myself safe, I can do out of love for myself and others. Sometimes that means doing the same things--wearing a mask, washing my hands, being politically active--but doing these things out of love for myself and others feels different than doing them out of fear. I'm far from perfect here (as anyone can see in my post history) but I've made a lot of progress.

4. Meditation: setting aside time to actually think about 2 and 3 and refocus is key.

5. Diet: eating well has been really hard for me, but recently I've been focusing on eating healthy, low-calorie things (vegetables, fruits, lean meats) rather than focusing on not eating unhealthy things. It's a subtle difference but it seems to be helping.

6. Going easy on myself: I have trouble with consistency and motivation on all these things, and can judge myself really harshly when I go days without meditating or exercising or eating well.

7. Understanding my own limitations: I have a lot of strong feelings about systemic police racism, brutality and murder, the mass death being caused by irresponsible handling of Covid, etc. But ultimately, I'm a white guy who can't speak for black people, I'm a web developer whose skills are unsuited for helping with Covid, and I've got enough problems and responsibilities in my own life that I can't take on the totalitarianism which is rising on both sides of the political spectrum. It's not within my abilities to save the world. I try to create the change I'm capable of, but at the end of the day I'm no use to humanity if I can't take care of myself.

8. Staying connected: I've been making a concerted effort to show my face on Zoom calls, call people I'm close with, and spend time in person with people (6 feet apart and wearing masks). I've even met new people during the pandemic, and I've kept in contact with some elderly people in my community which has been incredibly rewarding--these are the people most at risk from the pandemic and the dangers of isolation and with the most experience to offer you.

This is just what has been working for me. I hope something here helps someone.

[1] https://www.halhigdon.com/training-programs/marathon-trainin...