How the Pandemic Is Making Us Feel 1,000 Years Old

novembre 22, 2020

If the Past Eight Months Have Felt Like Eight Years, You're Not Wrong

I was foam rolling my randomly sore hip on the floor of my apartment when I got a text from a friend: "I'm leaving the city, Susie!"

I was shocked to hear that she, a die-hard New Yorker, was packing up for good. I immediately sat up to call her, but my hip was like, "Lol, NOPE," and I thought (not, by the way, for the first time this year), WTF, when did I become a million years old?

Some obvious information: Pretty much all of us are now facing constant pandemic-related stress and anxiety, while our regularly scheduled distractions and de-stressing activities (commutes, the gym, date nights) are MIA. And although it can certainly feel like Nothing Is Happening inside our homes, there is actually a ton of upheaval going on inside our bodies.

Adding to that pile of hot garbage, lots of people have been forced to make major life decisions in 2020—stuff that we probably would have waited years to do otherwise. Exhibit A: my texting friend, Tracy, who's now moving across the country with her boyfriend, Jason, when in her previous existence, she might have waited months or years before making such a major move with a newish boo so he could be closer to his fam.

So. Yeah. Aching body parts, relentless angst, a new grown-up life in Arizona…it's enough to make a human feel like they went from being a kid (or, okay, a "young person") to an adult adult overnight. Probably because we kind of have?

Here, what's been going on with our bodies and minds since March, why it's not all terrible, and what to do now that we're basically all middle-aged.

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