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Having a positive routine is crucial for people who have bipolar disorder to maintain a positive life. When Covid-19 hit Calgary and in-person contact became limited there was a good possibility that I could have become acutely ill. My routine keeps me active, connected to people and generally happy and motivated to take care of myself. I have been ok so far and I believe it is because of our ability as human beings to adapt to adverse circumstances.

I facilitate a peer support group for people with bipolar disorder at an agency called OBAD. When it was determined it was no longer safe to meet in person our meetings were cancelled temporarily. Then, our executive director, Kaj Korvela, learned how to get our meetings on zoom. At first, I was skeptical that online meetings were going to be effective, but our members have been able to find emotional connection with each other despite the change.  

I am no longer able to do my volunteer job because of Covid-19. This creates a certain angst for me because regularly helping people and being in contact with the positive staff helps me stay well. My psychiatrist proposed the idea that I teach myself crochet to get by until the pandemic is over. Learning this craft has allowed me to have a positive focus for my attention and it helps me stay in the present moment.

I attend a club that teaches you how to improve your public speaking skills called Toastmasters. When we were no longer able to meet in person our club learned how to do our meetings via zoom. We have had to learn new skills like having proper lighting, maintaining eye contact with the camera, and keeping our gestures visible to our virtual audience.  

None of this seems particularly impressive now. We have all become accustomed to it and we have an expectation that some activities and services should be available online. However, if someone told me in 2019 that my support group, toastmasters club and doctors appointments would all be online I would have had a hard time believing it. We have all learned to change our behaviour and expectations to get through this difficult time.

I wonder if we have not used our greatest strength to its potential. We clearly have a tremendous capacity to learn new skills to adapt to change. Problem solving techniques I am aware of are based on brainstorming and trouble shooting. What if we added, “Learning” to the list? What if we challenged ourselves to ask, “What can we learn to solve this problem?” I think it could empower us to find more thoughtful and creative solutions and improve our quality of life.

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I do not believe, “Everything happens for a reason.” There is no reason why one child is born into a horrifically abusive home while another grows up in a nurturing environment.  I do not believe, “We all have our stuff.” Everyone struggles with their own personal adversity, but some suffer more than others. The world is not so simple that we have all been given an equal slice of the finite pie of personal hardship. I do believe that there can be positive outcomes from tragic circumstances.

There is nothing that I can write that could do justice to the cloud of darkness that Covid-19 has imposed on our world. The loss of life, mental health tragedies, isolation, strained work environments, exhausted medical staff and having our healthcare system pushed to the edge of collapse is hard to completely conceptualize. In my case, the major change has been the end of meeting in groups in public.

I am a peer support group facilitator for people who have bipolar disorder for an agency called OBAD, The Organization for Bipolar Affective Disorder. I remember when we had to adapt to doing our meetings online, I was doubtful that they would be as effective as being present with others in the same space but they have been a success. Plus, we have gained the capacity to support individuals who live outside of Calgary. Covid-19 forced us to create a service that we will provide in addition to our regular meetings in the future.  

I am a member of Toastmasters International, a club that empowers people to improve their public speaking and leadership skills. When Covid-19 forced us to have our meetings online I was concerned they would be less meaningful but it has given us the opportunity to improve our speaking skills in front of a camera. In addition, we have new members who live in the UK, Ecuador, and the US. When it becomes safe to do our meetings in person, we will have hybrid meetings so our new friends who live in other countries can attend virtually.

Covid-19 has stung all of us in different ways and to varying degrees. I do not know what life has been like for exhausted healthcare workers or families who have lost loved ones and have not been able to grieve together, but I imagine the pain is enormous. Despite these challenges this catastrophic global disaster has allowed us to witness the emergence of human resiliency, strength and creative problem solving that we might never have experienced. My hope is that the discovery of these positive traits creates a momentum of change in our society that we will benefit from well into the future.