Lessons from Long(ish) Covid

I’m dealing with long(ish) Covid. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I got Covid for the first time two days after Christmas, a gift from my husband who went down the Thursday before Christmas. 🙂

I had all the symptoms you read about, it was way more gnarly than I thought it would be. It was/is by far the sickest I’ve ever been. Although I am beyond blessed it was not serious enough to cause severe illness, and I want to acknowledge everyone who has had it impact their lives far greater than it has mine. My heart goes out to each one.

The major symptoms lasted about two weeks; I was prepared for that. What I was not prepared for is the lingering exhaustion and brain fog that has lasted over a month now. Exhaustion like I have never experienced. Exhaustion that literally stops me in my tracks and forces rest as the only option. If I push past it for a day, I pay for it for two. I’m certainly having better days now (I can now better empathize with the phrase, “I have good days and bad days.”) but then I have a humbling day that reminds me I’m not through this yet.

I’m weak even though I’m still exercising, my appearance has taken a toll — face sunken, eyes glassy, pale, and lower weight. The brain fog on top of this is something else, stopped in my tracks yet again by my brain not finding a word, or completely saying the wrong word, or doing the wrong task—again it’s an experience I’ve never had. Although some of this brain fog stuff (like when I tried to turn our Christmas tree lights off by turning on the fireplace) can be pretty funny. 🙂

I canceled almost every plan I had outside of work in January. I simply didn’t feel like I had an option. I can manage working from home well and capitalize on the times I have energy, but big meeting days and days that I’ve gone into the office have completely tanked me. Again I want to take a minute here to acknowledge those who don’t have the privilege to work from home, the fact that I can manage my day and add in rest when I need it made my morning gratitude list many times last month.

So first of all, I want to call this shit out!

I know there are articles and acknowledgments about this topic but not enough. It’s super easy to get in your head about it because, just like mental health, it is not a visible illness. It’s easy to try to deny yourself the need to heal.

It’s easy to worry about what others are thinking because you aren’t wearing your debilitating exhaustion on your sleeve. Just like depression, where some days a foot out the door feels like an absolutely impossible feat. But no one sees it.

I want you to know that some see it, some see you, I do.

Second, my new way of living and prioritizing energy has had its bright spots in learning even more lessons on the never-ending journey toward balance. I want to share those with you as well:

You get to define what a “full week” looks like.

This is a gift from my therapist (who I transferred to a Zoom meeting this month so I wouldn’t have to make the trip). If one extra something a week feels like all you can muster, it’s OK to say when others request your time, “Sorry I’m all booked up this week.” You get to define what a full week looks like for you, no one else does.

It is hard to overcome the conditioned guilt in this. But when the consequence is a day when you can barely function, it makes it a whole lot easier. And I’m going to try really hard to hang on to this way to prioritize when I feel better.

Protect what restores you the most.

We’ve talked about this before, there is simply nothing that gives me more joy and energy than my evenings that start with a walk with the hubs and the pup, followed by cooking dinner with that same audience, glass of wine in hand, and great muisc on. That, plus my preference for an early bedtime and a dawn wake-up call makes it extra hard for me to want to venture out in the evenings, even if the world tells me I should go out more at night.

Another gift from my therapist on this topic, she said, “Katherine, if this is the most regulating, restorative part of your day, I’d think extra hard about participating in too many things that take you away from it.” So don’t be surprised from now on if I ask you to coffee or an afternoon walk instead of an evening outing.

A new mantra.

I’m not sold on affirmations moving the needle in your life, but I figure they can’t hurt. I’ve tried on countless affirmations, repeating them for a few weeks, downloading pictures of the quotes on my phone, hoping I’d spend time flipping through them. Nothing has stuck. But I had a lot of time to think during this long Covid thing, I even had a few days where I felt too motion-sick to read, watch TV or use the computer or phone for long, so yeah, lots and lots of thinking time. I’ve come up with this affirmation, which I kind of love and am enjoying using, so I wanted to share that with you too:

“I look forward to finding joy and peace in today and helping others to do the same. My only job is to stay present. The universe has my back, and she knows what I want.”

Here’s wishing you joy and peace today, and honoring those things that maybe no one can see, but that are very real for you. I hope you can stand strong in what you need, and show yourself the same care and love I’m quite certain you show everyone else in your life. We’ve got this.

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Balancing a Brain that’s Fighting Back

By Katherine Warren • April 6, 2025

Your brain will straight up lie to you. There’s no way to sugar coat that, friends, there just isn’t. But your brain also creates beautiful ideas and inventions, and well, everything you see that surrounds us. It’s the power of the AND. Your brain is the king of the “and.” The first step in finding balance is recognizing this. The second step is discerning the beautiful part of your brain from the beast. The third is not reacting to, judging or negotiating with the beastly part. It’s tough, tough work. It’s lifelong work. And even if your friends start calling you things like the “definition of balance” (a term so kindly bestowed on me by some friends recently). You’re still gonna have to work your a** off on this part for the rest of your life as you sway back and forth, in and out of balance. Does it get easier? Yes and no. The beauty of understanding the feeling of balance is that you don’t have to rely on your brain so much. You know how it feels to be in a place of solid, grounded peace, no matter what your brain is shouting you “should” or “could” be doing. The harder part is that the more you find balance, the more likely it is that you are upleveling your life. Your focus and pure presence have likely brought about more of whatever you define as a successful life--mentally, physically, or materially. That uplevel can mean those brain lies cut a little deeper, make you question every decision you make to protect your peace. If you’ve learned to sit with that pain in your belly, it might fight a little harder to make you pay attention to it. It might put up a bigger fight to try to force you to listen to those untruths. This is when you have to remind yourself, your brain will straight up lie to you. Under no circumstances should you negotiate with these thoughts. That’s where spiraling lives, that’s where lack of balance lies. Sometimes holding hard to your balanced routines will do the trick.