Feelings of Regression

Feeling discouraged that all your progress is taking a step back

By Maia Irvin

One of the best feelings in the world is when you finally have your life under control. You’re doing well in school. You get that internship that gives you hope for the future. You’ve decided to become healthier. You’ve finally found a group of lifelong friends. In other words, you’re flourishing. 

Then—bam—the world is hit by a devastating pandemic, forcing everyone to stay at home and regress. 

It’s hard to push aside the feeling that you’re losing all of your progress. There’s less motivation to study and go to online classes. Maybe the company with that internship has suspended operations, which puts your professional aspirations on hold. Keeping up with your physical and mental health is much more difficult in isolation. Even the new relationships you’ve made are strained.  

Many of us are feeling the effects of having our normal routines vanish. Not being able to go to class, work, the gym, or even spend time with friends can make you feel like you’ve taken one step forward and five steps back. 

This doesn’t mean you have to completely put your life on hold though; it just means you have to adjust. Make a space and schedule times dedicated to working on classes and searching for new internships and job opportunities. Do an at-home workout or take a walk around the neighborhood to stay healthy and get outside. Most importantly, stay connected with friends and family through text messages, phone calls, and video chats to keep those relationships, and your sanity, alive. 

At the end of the day, all we can do is adapt, persist, and remind ourselves that the world will go back to normal someday, and when it does, all that progress we thought we lost will probably still be there, ready for us to keep going.