We’ve got a lot of crazy stuff going on right now. Pandemics, elections, remote learning, working from home, civil unrest, you name it. Because we’ve been asked to be home so much, it’s really easy for people to start feeling isolated and alone. When you feel isolated and alone, it’s really easy to start sinking into a depression or ramping up your anxiety.

While I would say the biggest thing you can do for your own mental health is to limit your use of social media right now, something else that can help you is to check on the people you love. Everyone I know is struggling in one way or another. And while most people I know live lives of relative privilege, everyone’s problems are relative to their own lives.

My suggestion is to take a few minutes a day to just reach out to someone. Maybe it’s someone you haven’t talked to in a while. Maybe it’s someone who’s posted something “different” on social media, and you want to check on them. Maybe it’s your neighbor who walks by your house every day for fresh air. I don’t care who it is, pick someone.

• pick up the phone and call them
• send them a card
• step outside your door and say hello
• pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru
• send a funny text
• set up a socially distanced coffee date
• ask if they want to meet for a walk
• set up a FaceTime or Zoom call
• drop off flowers or candy
• pick something else – anything!

The simple fact that someone feels seen and appreciated can go a long way right now. We’re being bombarded with all sorts of doomsday crap, and we need to remember that we’re all human beings. We have so much work to do, and we can start right where we are with kindness, compassion, and love. Call me Pollyanna, but I think it’s true.

It can feel overwhelming when we’re stuck in the cycle of anxiety, depression, and overwhelm. Looking right here, right now, for the ways you can reach out to someone you know and brighten their day in any way you can will go a long way to making you both feel better. It won’t change the world immediately, but it’s a start.

Pollyanna out!