You know how after there’s a death, the first week or so is full of support and then people move on with with their lives? It feels like with Covid, March was the equivalent of that first week. My social media timelines were flooded with supportive memes about self-care (I clearly follow a lot of therapists) and conversations with friends and family centered around making sure we were all “okay.”  Fast forward seven months, a few weeks away from the election, and I’m feeling pulled to revisit the themes of March. Many of us are preparing for colder weather and losing the ability to shake off cabin fever with a socially-distanced outdoor hangout or long walk in a park.

I’ve been hearing this week that it can be really challenging to spend more time at home for any number of reasons, but particularly that it is more challenging to spend more time with your own thoughts. You may be balancing the responsibilities of work and home with the added element of not being able to access some of your go-to coping strategies. The idea of self-compassion and remaining present with yourself might sound great but feel out of reach or even annoying. I hope to be able to identify a few common myths about self-compassion and normalize some of the thinking traps that can feel a bit sticky or murky.