Open Letter: You Are Not Alone

This is a COVID-19 piece that's not precisely about COVID-19, it's about the relationship between you and your friends and family.

Have you noticed around you that there's been a little bit more conflict between you and these various groups? Have you noticed a rise in frustration?

I sure have, falling out with friends and loved ones, also feeling like our relationships have been altered beyond repair to some degree.

I think that COVID-19 has now put us as individuals into a place where we are figuring out who we really are versus who we thought we were or who people told us to be. Most Americans work very hard almost to the point where we don't have time to catch our breath, but now between quarantine, social isolation, and not being able to travel, we have more time to think about our lives than we ever have before.

We are more in touch with things that bother us, people who rub us the wrong way, friendships that no longer serve us, romantic relationships past their prime. We now have no choice but to confront these things, as there is no longer a can to kick down the curve.

MORE: I Felt Anxious and Depressed Yesterday For the First Time in My Life

After three arguments with friends this week, I called my best friend Earle today, and I told him about how I was evaluating my behavior based on these conversations with other people who are friends of ours.

He laughed and said to me, "Kwame, don't worry, everyone's losing their mind because this COVID-19 thing has broken everyone's spirit; it's not just happening to you."

I wasn't sure if I should be comforted by that statement that I'm not alone in this struggle, because I would prefer that no one had to have this, but it seems as long as we are going through this pandemic, Mercury will forever be in retrograde.

I would like us to challenge ourselves to try and be the best people we can through all of this and always take our own temperatures daily. They say we are all in this together, which is true, but if you are not held together as an individual, how can you function as part of the whole?

More: Collapsing Friendships During COVID19

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk have you noticed any communication errors or relationships falling apart in your life let's talk about it.