By Monquia Bumpers
Before COVID-19 hit the nation, I had begun a spiritual journey. I suffered for years from anxiety and PTSD and as an empath, I needed to work on grounding my emotions. I found ways to make sure my emotions don’t overwhelm me, and though they still affect me, my journey opened the door to other life changes. By focusing on myself, my children, and my household, I can stay in a positive mindset and I’m able to appreciate myself.
A little bit about me: I am a mother of two girls, Destiny, a teenager and Lei’Lani, a 4 year old. I love both of them equally the most, but they are night and day. I am a water sign and I have two fire signs, and they definitely keep me on my toes.
I’ve been doing hair since I was 15 years old. It’s one of those things that started as a hobby, but over the years when I was in and out of work, it has helped me bring in an income. Now I run a shop out of my home, and it has turned into a passion. I didn’t expect to grow my business this way, but through references, I have been able to build a wonderful client base. When COVID-19 hit, I made the decision to stop working. It felt too dangerous for my girls and my clients to have people in my home.
Staying home with the girls, without work, and reading all the news brought my anxiety back. I’d hop on and off social media, but after I started, I found myself crying a lot. And nervous. There were so many contradictions and I didn’t know what to believe. The news will have you everywhere if you don’t pay attention and keep yourself centered, which is why I’m grateful that I had already begun my spiritual journey when this started because I knew how to put down the news and focus on self-care.
Instead of letting anxiety overwhelm me, I shifted my perspective to center myself: I pick three things each month that I do for self-care, to keep myself humbled and happy. One that I’ve really enjoyed doing is guided meditations, which are especially good if you have a hard time meditating in silence.
I see a lot of people saying that this is a hard time. Between the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, I believe this is a necessary time. It’s also time to take a deep look within yourself to become more self-aware, when we can turn negatives into positives, and start switching our mindsets to notice how we process our thoughts about people in general.
Being on my spiritual journey has helped me look deeper and improve my mental and emotional wellbeing—maybe it can help you too.
Monquia Bumpers is a Parent Trainer with the Flamboyan Foundation in Washington, DC.