The COVID-19 pandemic ripped apart all sense of normalcy for many people. Data shows a rise in addictive behaviors since March 2020 as people saw drastic increases in stress and isolation. Stress and isolation are risk factors for increased alcohol consumption, other substance use, and maladaptive coping, such as other process addictions, which include eating or shopping. The brain seeks pleasure from the chemical dopamine that is produced through connection and enjoyable things, but in the absence of positive stimuli, the brain seeks out pleasure, including alcohol or other substances.

As a member of the Air National Guard, a student at the University of Iowa, and someone who works in the area of veteran support, I have seen first-hand the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on our veteran and military-connected (VMC) community. While no two people’s experiences of the pandemic have been the same, one defining feature that lockdown had on the VMC community was loss.

Disturbances alter the state and trajectory of an ecosystem and can shape ecosystem dynamics long into the future. This is particularly the case for disturbances that are large, severe, and infrequent that capture the public attention and challenge our understanding of an ecosystem. I see the disturbance of the COVID-19 pandemic creating similar damage and challenges to our human ecosystem. This disturbance has been large, severe, and infrequent.

Practicing positivity can lower stress, improve physical health, yield healthier relationships, and more. I am drawn to books, articles, and podcasts that provide practical strategies for reframing my outlook and perceptions in ways that support my wellness and healthy relationships with others. There is no shortage of strategies. Strategies such as these worked for me at various life stages—until March 2020.

Grace, the experience of gifts freely given, is ever present; it’s the body breathing, and the heart beating, it is seeing, tasting, smelling, touching, and feeling (emotion), thinking, and it is language and speech, listening, laughter, kindness, generosity and gratitude, and it is the awareness that knows in and through all these and more. “Resting” in grace requires patience, the ability to stay and attend long enough to receive and savor what has been freely given.

Our success at work is often measured by metrics of productivity and efficiency, with working faster, longer, and harder sometimes presumed to be their own reward. Work also can be entangled with status judgments, in which our answer to, “What do you do?” brings a loaded assessment of our importance by another’s standards. Our work is not only about what we do or how fast we do it. It is also about who we are and choose to be. It is about the deep meaningfulness of our individual stories, values, and self-understanding.

Concerns around well-being affect learning, teaching, academic service, and overall work experience for many individuals and make it especially tough for those who measure their self-worth based on their success and achievement, as it is more difficult to attain high standards during times of distress and unpredictability.

Times of transition and adjustment can also be times to rethink and reinvent. Positive change starts with valuing our own selves and wanting something better. Positive goals help us shift our attention back to ourselves. Now is a great time to contemplate, imagine, and plan what kind of future you’d like to see.

A common concern for our young adults is what has been termed “adulting.” Adulting encompasses the responsibilities, sometimes mundane, one must take on and manage as an adult. This can be everything from paying taxes, to buying a refrigerator, to becoming someone’s boss, to making a doctor’s appointment (and going to it), to following a budget, to simply staying home on a Friday night.