It’s hard to believe we are at the end of summer and yet this pandemic is still dictating our lives. With all the noise about how to process, cope and manage the stress, I wanted to offer up another form of therapy – humor. Even in the darkest of times, humor can provide relief from pain, uplift one’s spirits and help connect with others.
In this spirit of humor, I’ve created a psychological disorder called
Present COVID Disorder (PCD)
Symptoms Include:
- Feeling or displaying degrees of giddiness over mundane things.
- The awkward, uncouth feeling when greeting friends you haven’t seen in a while. Do we virtual hug? Elbow bump? The awkwardness may cause a sudden flashback to a first kiss experience.
- You no longer find it rude to dodge someone on the sidewalk.
- A flustered feeling occurs when you do not know where to stand while waiting for your coffee.
- You experience a state of confusion upon entering most stores and restaurants, unsure as to what is and isn’t acceptable behavior.
- When you see a couple walking down the street, and one person has a mask on, and the other does not – You think, what’s the point?
- Rule-breaking tendencies: A strong desire to go the wrong way down a one-way aisle because what you need is RIGHT THERE.
- You have an immediate feeling of relief when anti-bacterial gel hits your hands.
- You are curious why bidets are not being sold at Costco yet.
- You are now very “judgy” towards anyone who has a different way of social distancing.
- You become viscerally elated when seeing toilet paper and paper towels at the grocery store.
- You have hoarding tendencies that include toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, anti-bacterial gel, potato chips, and Oreos.
- You practice learning all the ways you can open up doors without using your hands.
- That dreaded feeling of having to cough or sneeze with your mask on and realizing that you can’t escape to a no-mask zone in time.
- Going to the grocery store is now a reason to dress up.
- Getting an Amazon package has more often than not become the highlight of your day.
- You don’t remember what you talked about before the pandemic. Actually, you don’t even remember what day it is!
- FOMO has changed to FODN (Fear of Doing Nothing)
“Laugh as much as possible, always laugh. It’s the sweetest thing one can do for oneself & one’s fellow human beings.”
–Maya Angelou
