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For Hannah Mayderry, the COVID-19 pandemic felt like “someone pressed the pause button
“I’d been rushing through life, and suddenly, I had all this time on my hands,” Mayderry, a licensed mental health counselor and therapist, says in an email. “I thought it was going to be great at first, but then, old demons resurfaced.”
Mayderry, 27, has struggled in the past with disordered eating and body dysmorphia, constantly counting calories and going on multiple diets, including intermittent fasting and hormone-regulating regimens. During the pandemic, her negative thoughts returned, and old patterns again started to take form.
“The quiet moments were filled with critical thoughts about my body and analyzing everything I ate,” says Mayderry, who has dealt with these types of issues since she was 12 years old. “It’s almost as if my brain was trying to find something to keep itself occupied, and this was its twisted way of doing so.”
Stephan, I am a regular and appreciative reader of your posts. However, I need to take exception with part of your statement “For goodness sake we must all vote and vote Democratic. They aren’t that impressive but, compared with the Republicans, they are the only real option to preserve democracy.”
There are in fact many impressive Democratic members of the House and Senate–most of whom are not self promoters, but people work tirelessly in the background as true civil servants, trying to help people. But with complete Republican obstructionism, they are often stymied in their efforts. I applaud your efforts to encourage fellow Americans to vote for Democrats, but please don’t support cynicism; it undercuts your message about the necessity of voting and voting Democratic.