When I founded Big Bear’s Forge, I utilized the forging process as a form of art therapy to assist with a couple of different mental and physical health issues I was facing. In an attempt to discover further possible therapeutic opportunities, the forge has since expanded into a homestead as well, designed to create an environment that is both wholesome and beneficial to all involved. In keeping with the original intent, I would like to utilize this blog for the same purpose and talk about something that I think we are all dealing with in some capacity: social isolation.

During the past year or so, many of us have faced longer than normal periods of isolation. For some of us, the quarantines produced long periods of solitude that allowed us to learn more about ourselves (for better or worse). Some of us found ourselves isolated with others, be it friends or family, in which case we probably learned way more than we would have liked to know about them. Either way, due to the COVID pandemic, we have all found ourselves shut off from any form of conventional social interaction. Even with the abundance of virtual interaction opportunities, it has been a long time since most of us have been able to have face-to-face social interactions in a public setting. As an introvert, this seemed like the silver lining in the great storm-cell COVID. But, it wasn’t.

Your brain is a muscle. It gets stronger the more you exercise it, and the opposite happens when you don’t. Well, it turns out that when you have a mental component that strong to begin with (something like anxiety or depression), they, too, atrophy away; but, to an almost crippling resolution. If we entertain the “brain is a muscle” analogy a little longer, it is easy to understand why one weak muscle group can cripple the entire body. In fact, there is a myth about an undefeated warrior who met his demise because of a single severed tendon. Similarly, I find myself defeated by the great battle of dealing with other people. Unlike Achilles, though, these instances of defeat are not my end. I get to stand back up and try again, so I will. It will take a while before I’m back to my A-game, but this isn’t going to kill me. Rather, one day, I’ll be killing it.

After all of this time out of the social circle, many may find themselves facing the same circumstances. Whether it be a diagnosed mental health issue, or simply slightly rusty social skills that are driving the issue, you have to remember to work out that brain! The only way anything gets better is by working at it. So, to everyone who has found themselves in the same position, you’ve got this. Whether it be your social skills, patience, temper, or anything else that is making this readjustment difficult, it isn’t going to kill you, so keep fighting. Keep fighting your afflictions and, one day, you will have gotten so strong that nothing will keep you down. I, myself, have survived the end of the world in 1999, 06-06-06, 2012, and 09-27-14, as well as a deployment and a pandemic. I am not going to let anxiety defeat me.