By Danielle Lane, Managing Editor
As we begin our emergence into the world there is a weight on our society with which we must reckon. While we have spent the last year tirelessly seeking out the truth on the most effective ways of protecting our physical health, many of us have allowed our mental health and the mental health of our community to fall to the wayside. During the past year we have taken great pains to follow physical health guidelines, to wear our masks, to social distance, to stay in our homes. But what have we done to protect our mental health?
During these next few months, during this heightened period of change it is important that we as students check in with ourselves both physically and mentally. We have been isolated from those we love for over a year, missing birthdays, bnei mitvot, and weddings. We have endured hard days and long nights without our support system of friends and family. The excitement to burst into this next chapter of our lives may be overwhelming but we must stop to make sure we are taking care of both our social needs as well as our mental needs.
There are many ways to do this; the first is to remember we have all experienced a massive trauma together. Consequently, our anxiety is valid and t shared by many. Furthermore, large social gatherings are unexpectedly more stressful and exhausting. . It’s normal to not always be feeling the joy and relief that we have been talking about since March 2020. It’s possible that our basic tasks and errands may take more emotional and physical energy than they used to, our social interactions may leave us feeling less satisfied than we remember, and our day to day lives may feel less exciting than we have been anticipating.
As a member of the YU community you are not alone. Not only are your teachers and friends here to listen to and support you but so are the mental health services provided by Yeshiva University. The Yeshiva University Counseling Center offers many free services to students including individual counseling sessions relating to anxiety, depression, and LGBTQ+ matters.
Now more than ever we must stand together as a community to support each other as we face this new chapter.